MODE 


.^ 


r(;^(No'.vJt) 


BY 

E  LEDYARD  CUYLF.R 
DD.LL.a 


<^^me/. 


*     OCT  27  1903      * 


^i'/ 


Divisioa       r^C^L. 

Section        ^   '10 


A   MODEL   CHRISTIAN 


/ 

iTbc  prcebvtcrlan  pulpit 

* 


A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 


THEODORE  LEDYARD   CUYLER,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 

1903 


Copyright,  1903,  by  the  Trustees  of 
The  Presbyterian  Board  of  PubUcation  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work 


Published  October,  jgoj 


The  first  two  sermons  in  this  collection  have  never  appeared 
before  in  book  form.  The  others  are  taken  from  the  volume, 
"  Stirring  the  Eagle's  Nest,"  with  the  kind  permission  of  the 
publishers.  The    Eaker   and    Taylor   Company. 


CONTENTS 


I.  Barnabas — A  Model  Christian 

II.  Burden-Bearing 

III.  Pivot  Battles  in  Life 

IV.  The  Little  Coat 
V.  The  Journey  of  a  Day 

VI.  Jesus  Only 

VII.  Right  Views  of  Things 

VI 1 1.  The  Dove  That  Found  Rest 


PAGE 
3 

21 

43 
6i 

79 

97 

115 

133 


The  first  and  third  sermons  in  this  volume  have  never  appeared 
in  book  form.  The  others  are  taken  from  the  volume  "Stirring 
the  Eagle's  Nest,"  with  the  kind  permission  of  the  publishers,  the 
Baker  &  Taylor  Company,  New  York. 


A    MODEL   CHRISTIAN 


A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 


BARNABAS— A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

*'  For  he  was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of 
faith." — Acts  xi.  24, 

Peter's  vision  at  Joppa  introduced  a  new  era 
in  human  history.  To  the  fishernian-apostle,  as 
he  kneeled  at  his  noontide  hour  of  devotion,  was 
revealed  the  glorious  truth  that  God  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons.  This  was  not  only  the  "  gos- 
pel of  democracy  "  for  every  land,  leveling  up  all 
castes  and  classes  into  a  common  brotherhood 
before  God ;  it  was  a  gospel  of  foreign  missions 
which  proclaimed  that  the  Gentile  had  as  good  a 
right  to  the  offer  of  eternal  life  as  the  children  of 
Abraham.  That  vision  of  Peter's  opened  the  way 
to  the  evangelization  of  western  Asia  as  Paul's 
vision  at  Troas  opened  the  way  to  the  evangeli- 
zation of  Europe. 

The  persecution  which  arose  on  account  of  the 

3 


4  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

heroic  martyr  Stephen  "  scattered  abroad "  many- 
new  converts  from  Jerusalem,  even  as  a  sturdy 
blow  of  the  blacksmith's  sledge  scatters  the  fiery 
sparks  from  the  anvil.  Some  of  them  enter  the 
maritime  coast  of  Phoenicia ;  some  of  them  cross 
over  to  the  luxurious  and  licentious  island  of 
Cyprus ;  others  move  northward  to  the  superb 
city  of  Antioch.  These  early  pioneers  of  the 
cross  were  not  commissioned  by  "  boards "  or 
other  missionary  organizations.  The  book  of 
The  Acts  is  mainly  the  record  of  individual 
efforts  for  the  conversion  of  individual  souls. 
The  souls  thus  evangelized  were  in  great  centers 
of  influence  like  Jerusalem,  Ephesus,  Rome,  and 
Antioch. 

The  American  tourist  who  visits  now  the 
shrunken  and  miserable  hamlet  called  Antdkia 
can  form  but  a  poor  conception  of  what  Antioch 
was  in  the  days  of  its  flashing  splendor.  It  was 
the  queen  of  the  Orient,  the  capital  of  Syria,  the 
third  city  in  influence  on  the  globe.  Its  popula- 
tion was  about  equal  to  that  of  Chicago  to-day. 
Its  natural  situation  was  commanding,  with  the 
river  Orontes  flowing  past  it  and  the  magnifi- 
cent mountains  of  Lebanon  towering  above  its 
walls.  Grecian  art  and  Roman  wealth  had  en- 
riched it  with  gorgeous  temples  of  heathen  dei- 


BARNABAS  5 

ties,  with  sumptuous  baths  and  theaters,  with 
elegant  villas  upon  its  hillsides,  and  with  expen- 
sive aqueducts  carried  across  its  adjacent  plains. 
No  capital  outside  of  Rome  was  more  imperial 
in  its  splendor  or  more  corrupted  by  wealth  and 
sensuality. 

Among  the  mixed  population  of  this  Oriental 
mart  of  commerce  were  many  Greeks.  Some 
commentators  insist  that  the  word  "  Grecian  "  in 
the  twentieth  verse  describes  Hellenistic  Jews. 
But  as  we  are  told  in  the  previous  verse  that 
some  of  the  gospel  itinerants  "  preached  the  word 
to  none  but  the  Jews  only,"  it  is  probable  that 
this  verse  announces  that  the  good  news  of  salva- 
tion had  begun  to  be  offered  to  the  Gentiles. 

An  immediate  blessing  followed.  The  omnipo- 
tent "  hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  "  these  earnest 
preachers  of  the  truth.  The  instruments  were 
human,  the  power  was  divine.  We  pastors  and 
Sunday-school  teachers  can  do  nothing  without 
God,  and  it  is  equally  true  that  in  our  depart- 
ments God  will  do  nothing  without  us.  When 
God's  hand  and  man's  hand  combine,  then  comes 
the  spiritual  harvest.  The  results  which  followed 
this  pioneer  preaching  work  at  Antioch  were  of 
an  admirable  type,  and  a  model  of  the  best 
modern  revivals.    We  are  told  that  "  a  great  num- 


6  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

ber  believed,  and  turned  unto  the  Lord."  Ob- 
serve this  process :  the  inward  must  precede  the 
outward — the  root  must  be  planted  before  we  can 
expect  the  tree.  The  root  here  is  heart-faith  in 
the  crucified  Jesus.  As  the  result  of  this  internal 
acceptance  of  Christ  there  was  a  conversion  or 
"  turning  "  from  a  life  of  sin  to  a  life  of  serving 
Christ.  When  the  hand  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
laid  on  the  helm  the  whole  vessel  swings  round 
on  its  keel  and  "  heads  "  in  the  opposite  direction. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  this  fleet  of  new  converts 
bore  the  colors  of  an  open  confession  of  Christ 
at  the  mast-head,  and  were  all  ready  to  go  into 
action  for  Him  at  once.  True  conversion  demands 
prompt  confession  and  union  with  the  church. 
As  soon  as  a  lamp  is  lighted  let  it  straightway 
shine. 

Good  news  flies  fast.  Jerusalem  was  the  head- 
quarters of  Christianity,  and  what  was  going  on  at 
Antioch  could  not  be  kept  long  from  the  mother 
church.  According  to  the  literal  rendering  of 
the  twenty-second  verse,  "  the  tidings  concerning 
these  things  "  (or  converts)  "  was  heard  with  the 
ears  of  the  church  which  was  in  Jerusalem."  In 
the  judgment  of  that  parent  church  the  impor- 
tant work  that  had  opened  at  Antioch  demanded 
a  master  workman. 


BARNABAS  7 

The  man  whom  the  Jerusalem  church  selected 
to  be  the  city  missionary  at  Antioch,  and  after- 
wards the  foreign  missionary  to  Cyprus,  has  never 
received  the  high  honor  through  after  ages  to 
which  he  is  fairly  entitled.  In  our  humble  judg- 
ment he  stands  next  to  Paul,  as  the  second  most 
remarkable  character  who  is  presented  to  us  in 
the  roll  of  converts  after  the  days  of  Pentecost. 
A  gratuitous  slur  has  been  cast  upon  him  because 
he  afterwards  had  a  "  contention  "  with  Paul  about 
certain  matters ;  but  may  it  not  be  possible  that 
in  that  contention  Paul  was  as  much  in  the  wrong 
as  Barnabas  ?  Good  men  may  easily  differ  and 
often  dispute  warmly  about  the  best  method  of 
prosecuting  God's  work. 

The  original  name  of  the  gospel  preacher  who 
was  delegated  from  Jerusalem  was  Joses  or 
Joseph.  As  the  brightest  light  is  kindled  on  a 
point  that  comes  out  of  a  bed  of  charcoal,  so  this 
light-bearer  of  the  gospel  came  out  of  one  of  the 
darkest  regions  of  debauchery  and  idolatry.  He 
was  a  native  of  the  island  of  Cyprus.  He  was 
of  a  Levitical  descent,  but  his  country  was  pro- 
verbial for  its  licentiousness,  and  the  name  of 
"  Cyprian  "  is  to  this  day  applied  to  one  who  has 
sinned  away  the  purity  of  her  womanhood.  But 
as  the  sun  can  attract  heavenward  pure  particles    » 


8  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

of  moisture  from  a  slimy  pool,  so  God's  grace 
elevates  many  human  souls  from  very  filthy  sur- 
roundings. One  of  the  earliest  converts  to  the 
gospel  of  Calvary  was  Joseph  the  Cyprian ;  and 
what  a  thorough  out-and-out  work  was  his  con- 
version !  In  our  times  we  discover  conversions 
of  the  head  without  a  change  of  heart ;  again,  we 
see  both  head  and  heart  renovated  without  much 
perceptible  influence  on  the  purse.  But  Joses 
was  the  subject  of  a  spiritual  revolution  that 
reached  to  the  bottom  of  his  pocket. 

Make  way  for  him  as  the  pioneer  of  the  noble 
army  of  generous  givers  for  the  gospel.  He 
may  be  called  the  father  of  Christian  beneficence, 
for  he  is  the  first  one  specifically  named  who, 
"having  land,  sold  it,  and  brought  the  money, 
and  laid  it  at  the  apostles'  feet."  The  whole  host 
of  Christian  givers — the  Thorntons,  the  Pea- 
bodys,  the  Lenoxes,  the  Dodges,  the  Tappans, 
the  Stuarts,  and  the  Baldwins — are  all  the  suc- 
cessors of  this  "  son  of  consolation."  In  modern 
days  we  do  not  often  hear  of  Christians  who  sell 
their  real  estate  in  order  to  fill  Christ's  treasury. 
The  reason  why  there  are  so  many  stingy  pro- 
fessors in  our  churches  is  that  their  hearts  are 
not  warm  enough  to  thaw  out  their  purses. 

With    his    new  nature  Joseph   receives  a  new 


BARNABAS  9 

name.  He  is  christened  "  Barnabas,"  which  in 
our  Authorized  Version  is  translated  a  "son  of 
consolation."  This  would  bespeak  a  fine  char- 
acter. "  He  who  has  consolation  gives  it,  and  he 
that  gives  consolation  has  it." 

This  were  an  enviable  cognomen  for  every 
pastor  and  Sunday-school  teacher,  whose  offices 
are  not  only  to  instruct  in  the  truth,  but  to  visit 
their  flocks  and  to  heal  the  broken-hearted.  The 
later  Westminster  revisers  give  to  the  name  of 
Barnabas  the  more  literal  meaning,  "  son  of  ex- 
hortation," or  of  persuasion.  This  would  describe 
him  very  happily  as  a  zealous  and  successful  ex- 
horter  and  preacher  of  the  word.  Being  familiar 
with  his  gifts  and  his  graces,  the  mother  church 
at  Jerusalem  appointed  him  to  "go  as  far  as 
Antioch." 

On  his  arrival  there  he  found  himself  in  the 
midst  of  what  we  now  designate  a  "  work  of 
grace."  So  visible  and  impressive  was  this 
mighty  work  that  Luke  tells  us  that  Barnabas 
"  saw  the  grace  of  God " — /.  e.,  the  manifest 
effects  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  power  in  the  conver- 
sion of  heathen  idolaters.  This  gladdened  his 
heart  with  an  unselfish  and  inspiring  joy.  Noth- 
ing quickens  the  hungry  soul  of  a  true  minister 
or   Sabbath-school    laborer    like   visible    results. 


lo  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

The  spiritual  atmosphere  is  charged  with  a  sort 
of  Divine  electricity.  It  is  a  luxury  to  fish  when 
the  gospel  net  incloses  a  great  multitude  of 
fishes,  yet  he  is  not  worthy  of  the  name  of 
Christ's  servant  who  is  not  wilHng  to  spend  the 
labor  of  a  life  to  win  even  one  precious  soul  from 
the  pains  of  hell. 

Barnabas  comes  in  no  jealous  or  fault-finding 
temper  to  criticise  the  labors  of  others;  he  re- 
joiced in  the  rich  results  already  achieved,  and 
"exhorted  them  all,  that  with  purpose  of  heart 
they  would  cleave  unto  the  Lord."  Some  ancient 
authorities  read,  "that  they  would  cleave  unto 
the  purpose  of  their  heart  in  the  Lord."  He  di- 
rected them  immediately  to  Christ,  and  bade 
them  cleave  fast  to  Him.  He  taught  those  awak- 
ened souls  that  faith  was  a  transaction  by  which 
they  joined  their  own  weakness  unto  Christ's 
strength,  their  unworthiness  to  His  merits,  and 
their  guiltiness  to  His  full,  pardoning  grace.  The 
atoning  blood  not  only  cleansed — it  cemented. 
This  is  the  secret  of  the  only  religion  that  holds 
out ;  and  it  holds  out  because  it  liolds  on  to  Him 
who  declares  that  "  none  shall  be  able  to  pluck 
them  out  of  My  hand." 

We  always  know  what  manner  of  spirit  a  man 
is  of  when  we  ascertain  what  gladdens   him  the 


BARNABAS  1 1 

most  or  what  grieves  him  the  most  deeply.  Bar- 
nabas "  was  glad"  to  see  these  early  fruits  of  the 
gospel  of  the  cross.  "  For  he  was  a  good  man, 
and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith."  The 
Bible  is  chary  of  personal  eulogies,  and  leaves  us 
to  form  our  estimate  of  men's  character  by  their 
conduct.  I  do  not  now  recall  any  laudations  of 
Paul  or  Peter  or  the  beloved  John  such  as  sur- 
viving partiality  often  inscribes  on  the  tombs  of 
the  departed.  But  here  is  an  encomium,  uttered 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  would  outshine  burnished 
gold  if  it  were  carved  on  the  monument  of  any 
servant  of  God.  Brethren,  how  sweetly  might 
you  and  I  sleep  in  our  last  narrow  bed  if  over  our 
dust  the  Divine  hand  could  write,  "  A  good  man, 
and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  This  description 
does  not  imply  miraculous  inspiration ;  it  simply 
describes  what  is  attainable  by  the  humblest 
Christian  here,  for  we  are  all  commanded  to  be 
filled  with  the  Spirit.  In  proportion  as  we  are 
emptied  of  pride  and  self-seeking  may  we  be 
filled  to  the  brim  with  the  Divine  indwelling — yes, 
filled  unto  all  the  fullness  of  God. 

The  harvest  soon  becomes  too  great  in  Antioch 
for  any  one  man  to  gather,  for  "  much  people  was 
added  unto  the  Lord."  Please  to  mark  this  ex- 
pression well.     The  narrative  does   not  say  that 


12  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

many  people  joined  the  church,  but  that  many 
people  joined  Christ.  When  a  soul  has  joined  it- 
self to  Jesus  then  union  with  His  church  is  the 
most  natural  step  imaginable.  Barnabas  finds  that 
the  gospel  net  is  becoming  so  full  that  he  requires 
a  partner  to  assist  him  in  drawing  it  to  land.  He 
has  in  his  eye  a  new  convert  who  is  not  very  far 
away — one  who  is  in  the  prime  of  his  powerful 
manhood,  and  one  who  has  a  prodigious  driving- 
wheel  in  his  mental  machinery.  Once  before  ^ 
he  had  introduced  this  same  extraordinary  con- 
vert to  the  leaders  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem. 
So  he  departs  from  Antioch  to  Tarsus  to  look 
for  Saul.  When  Sir  Humphry  Davy  was  asked 
what  was  the  greatest  discovery  he  had  ever  made, 
he  replied,  "  It  was  young  Michael  Faraday." 
To  the  quick  eye  of  Barnabas  was  due  the  honor 
of  first  recognizing  the  fiery  vigor,  the  intrepid 
couracfe.  and  the  indomitable  zeal  of  him  who 
was  yet  to  be  the  very  chiefest  of  the  apostles. 

Since  Saul — who  had  not  yet  received  the  fa- 
miliar name  of  Paul — had  left  Caesarea  we  have 
lost  track  of  him.  He  seems  to  have  returned  to 
his  native  city  of  Tarsus  in  Cilicia.  How  long  he 
had  been  residing  there,  or  what  occupation  he 
was  pursuing  there,  the  inspired  history  does  not 
^  Acts  ix.  27. 


BARNABAS  13 

inform  us.  He  may  have  been  intent  upon  his 
sacred  studies  in  preparation  for  his  after-work,  or 
he  may  have  been  undergoing  a  portion  of  that 
discipHne  to  which  he  refers  in  his  subsequent 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  Quite  Hkely  it  is  that 
he  was  not  idle  among  his  neighbors,  for  we  are 
informed  afterwards  that  there  were  churches  in 
Cilicia,  and  he  may  have  had  a  hand  in  planting 
them. 

I  am  incHned  to  think  that  Saul  was  not  in 
Tarsus  when  Barnabas  reached  there,  because  the 
Greek  word  translated  "  seek "  signifies  a  sharp 
search,  as  though  Barnabas  had  some  trouble  to 
find  him.  When  he  did  capture  the  prize  he 
"  brought  him  unto  Antioch  "  with  the  happy  feel- 
ing of  one  who  has  found  great  spoil.  At  once 
they  enter  upon  their  work,  Barnabas  and  Saul,  in 
holy  and  loving  partnership,  ''  assembling  them- 
selves with  the  church"  for  worship  and  for  work. 
Their  chief  business  was  spiritual  instruction  in  the 
elementary  truths  of  Christianity.  Not  with  sen- 
sational claptrap  or  curiosity-seeking  devices  did 
they  aim  to  attract  popular  attention.  They 
simply  "taught"  their  auditors,  but  taught  them 
with  such  winsome  skill  and  affectionate  zeal  that 
they  had  "much  people"  to  listen  to  them. 
Literally    translated,     they     had     a     "sufficient 


14  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

crowd."  The  word  implies  a  miscellaneous  con- 
gregation of  rich  and  poor,  cultured  and  igno- 
rant, from  the  various  classes  of  society.  No 
splendid  sanctuary  gave  them  shelter ;  no  costly 
music  baited  their  aesthetic  appetites ;  no  luxuri- 
ous pews  invited  the  rich  while  the  poor  were 
kept  standing  at  the  gates ;  none  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical pomps  and  pageantries  of  modern  worship 
had  yet  intruded  into  the  sweet,  primitive  sim- 
plicity of  apostolic  Christianity.  Two  anointed 
preachers,  filled  with  the  heavenly  unction,  stood 
up  and  proclaimed  Christ  crucified  and  Christ 
risen  from  the  dead.  If  any  of  the  assembly 
were  troubled  with  difficulties,  they  asked  ques- 
tions and  the  two  teachers  answered  them. 
Psalms  and  spiritual  songs  were  sung,  fervent 
prayers  were  offered,  and  alms  were  distributed  to 
the  poor.  On  every  first  day  of  the  week  those 
Antioch  disciples  gathered  for  an  "  agape,"  or 
love  feast,  and  with  simple  fragments  of  bread 
and  cups  filled  with  the  fruit  of  the  vine  they 
commemorated  the  dying  love  of  their  blessed 
Lord.  From  beginning  to  end  their  Sabbath  ser- 
vices, their  week-day  work,  their  preaching,  their 
prayers  and  their  social  fellowship,  all  tasted  of 
Christ.  The  aroma  of  Christ  pervaded  every- 
thing.   They  knew  nothing  of  theological  systems 


BARNABAS  15 

— they  knew  only  one  divine  Person;  they  just 
beheved,  and  preached,  and  loved,  and  lived  out 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

With  the  new  nature  came  a  new  name.     Hith- 
erto the  followers  of  Jesus  had  been  known  as 
His  "disciples."     Sometimes  they  were    sneered 
at    as    "Nazarenes"    or   "  GaHLneans,"    but    they 
always  spoke  of  each  other  as  "  the  brethren  "  or 
as    "the   saints"    or   as    "the   faithful    in    Christ 
Jesus."     A  new  word  was  coined  at  Antioch ;  for 
there,  we  are  told,  the  disciples  were  first  called 
Christians.     The  coinage  is  not  their  own  ;  it  was 
a  nickname  invented  by  their  enemies  and  flung 
at  them  as  a  reproach.     The  Jews  did  not  invent 
it,  for  they  would  not  admit  that  the    crucified 
Gahlaean    had    been    the    Christ,    the    anointed 
Prophet  of  God.    The  word  has  a  Roman  ending, 
and   probably  came    from    those   who    used   the 
Latin  tongue.     Just  as  the  name  of  Puritan  or  of 
Methodist  was  first  bestowed  in  ridicule  and  after- 
wards  worn    as   a  title  of  nobility,  so   the  name 
Christian  was  scornfully  applied  to  the  new  sect 
as   a   term  of  ignommy.      As    Farrar   finely   re- 
marks, "  An  hybrid  and  insulting  designation  was 
invented  in  the  frivolous  streets  of  Antioch,  and 
round  it  have  clustered  forever  the  deepest  faith 
and  the  purest  glory  of  mankind."     Scoffer  of 


i6  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

Antioch,  we  thank  thee  for  that  word  "  Chris- 
tian." The  prophecies  of  the  ancient  seers,  the 
hght  of  Bethlehem's  star,  the  precious  power  of 
Calvary's  blood,  the  dawn  of  the  resurrection 
morn,  the  devotion  of  the  early  martyrs,  the 
civilizations  of  the  best  peoples  of  the  globe,  the 
mission  schemes  of  all  times,  and  the  redemption 
of  the  race — are  all  linked  with  that  glorious 
name.  It  is  the  enduring  witness  that  our  salva- 
tion stands  not  in  a  system,  but  in  a  Person^  the 
ineffable  and  almighty  Christ  Jesus.  Whoever 
V  would  be  saved  must  be  Christ's  man. 

Having  narrated  the  signal  services  of  Barna- 
bas and  Paul  at  Antioch,  the  chapter  concludes 
with  an  account  of  a  visit  made  by  certain 
prophets,  or  inspired  teachers,  from  Jerusalem. 
They  come  to  warn  the  church  at  Antioch  that  a 
famine  is  approaching.  The  chief  object  of  nar- 
rating this  prophecy  would  seem  to  be  its  beauti- 
ful illustration  of  Christian  beneficence.  A  relief 
fund  is  raised  by  the  Antioch  brethren,  and  the 
rule  of  giving  was  the  golden  rule  for  all  right 
giving  to  the  end  of  time.  Here  it  is :  "  Every 
man  gave  according  to  his  ability."  The  measure 
of  his  purse  was  the  measure  of  his  charity,  and 
nobody    robbed   himself  of  the    luxury  of  con- 


BARNABAS 


17 


tributing.  When  the  Antioch  rule  is  thoroughly 
practiced  by  Christians  in  America  there  will  be  a 
speedy  end  of  raising  money  for  the  Lord's 
treasury  '*  by  hook  and  by  crook " — a  system 
which  often  practices  petty  larceny  and  then 
varnishes  it  with  the  sacred  name  of  charity. 
Promptly  was  the  money  raised  and  put  into  the 
hands  of  Barnabas  and  Paul ;  they,  in  turn,  de- 
livered it  to  the  presbyters  or  elders  of  the 
church  at  Jerusalem.  This  is  the  first  time  that 
the  New  Testament  mentions  the  important  office 
of  "  elder  " — an  office  which  was  essential  in  the 
Jewish  Church,  and  has  been  and  will  be  a  per- 
manent office  in  the  church  of  Christ  as  long  as 
it  endures.  From  the  name  of  that  office  comes 
our  venerable  and  honored  name  of  Presbyterians. 
Having  now  walked  round  this  goodly  and 
fruit-laden  tree  of  Antioch,  let  us  give  it  one 
hearty  shake,  and  the  following  truths  will  drop 
like  ripe  apples  into  our  laps  : — 

1.  The  devil  always  outwits  himself  when  he 
persecutes  God's  people.  The  blood  of  Stephen 
the  martyr  was  the  seed  of  the  churches  of  Syria. 

2.  The  only  preaching  that  ever  saves  a  sinner 
from  hell  is  that  which  wrought  such  wonders  at 
Antioch ;  it  is  simply  and  faithfully  "  preaching 
the  Lord  Jesus." 


i8  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

3.  Spiritual  success  is  secured  only  when  God 
and  man  work  together  in  partnership.  If  the 
"  hand  of  the  Lord  "  is  withheld,  the  hand  of  the 
strongest  man  is  paralyzed. 

4.  The  only  title  worthy  your  ambition  or  mine 
is  this :  "  He  was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith."  It  is  a  great  thing 
to  have  a  church  of  men  modeled  after  such  a 
pattern  as  Barnabas. 

5.  "  Cleaving  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  "  is  the  true 
secret  of  the  higher  life.  When  my  weak,  wicked 
heart  is  grafted,  by  faith,  into  His  bleeding  heart, 
then  doth  the  blood  of  the  Vine  flow  into  the  branch. 

6.  The  only  name  that  you  or  I  can  ever  carry 
in  through  the  gate  of  heaven  will  be  the  name 

l^'  of  Christian.     If  we  are  not  willing  to  bear  it  as 

a  cross,  we  never  can  wear  it  as  a  crown. 

7.  The  golden  word  that  shines  through  the 
whole  passage  we  have  studied  is  the  word  give. 
The  master-spirit  of  the  Antioch  church  was  a 
bountiful  giver ;  he  gave  his  real  estate,  and  then 
gave  himself  The  first  recorded  act  of  that 
church  was  that  "  every  man  gave  according  to 
his  ability."  Never  could  there  have  been  a 
Christian  in  Antioch  or  a  Christian  here  had  not 
God  given  His  only  begotten  Son,  and  had  not 
that  Son  given  His  hfe  a  ransom  for  us  all. 


II 

BURDEN-BEARING 


II 

BURDEN-BEARING 

♦*  Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden." — Galatians  vi.  5. 
*'  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens." — Galatians  vi.  2. 
"Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord." — Psalm  Iv.  22. 

Here  is  a  threefold  cord  that  is  not  easily 
broken.  I  trust  that  you  will  all  grasp  hold  of 
it  and  be  lifted  out  of  your  cares  and  complain- 
ings, out  of  your  doubts  and  your  despondencies. 
While  there  is  an  apparent  contradiction  between 
these  three  texts,  there  is  not  really  the  slightest 
discordance.  They  blend  beautifully  together 
hke  the  bass,  the  tenor,  and  the  alto  in  some 
sweet  melody.  God's  truth  has  no  discords. 
Errors  conflict  with  each  other,  but  all  truths  run 
parallel  Hke  railway  tracks,  that  might  belt  the 
globe  and  never  come  in  conflict. 

With  this  preliminary  fact  in  mind,  let  us  study 
these  passages.  They  treat  of  the  bearing  of 
burdens.  Can  any  topic  be  more  thoroughly 
practical  ?  For  every  human  life — high  or  hum- 
ble— has  its  loads ;  and  much  of  the  comfort,  the 


22  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

strength,  and  the  joy  of  our  lives  depends  upon 
the  way  that  these  loads  are  dealt  with.  Which 
of  them  ought  to  be  carried,  and  which  of  them 
none  of  us  should  attempt  to  carry,  is  a  question 
that  ought  to  be  examined.  How  to  make  our 
own  loads  the  lighter,  and  how  to  relieve  other 
people  of  their  burdens,  is  another  question  to  be 
carefully  considered.  Upon  these  questions  a  vast 
deal  of  heavenly  light  streams  in  through  the 
triple  windows  now  opened  before  us. 

I.  The  first  of  the  texts  to  be  looked  at  is  this : 
"  Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden."  We 
are  too  apt  to  regard  burden-bearing  as  some- 
thing menial  or  degrading.  But  this  is  a  great 
mistake.  God  has  so  ordered  it  that  no  station 
in  life  is  exempt  from  its  inevitable  loads.  Many 
years  ago,  during  the  days  of  the  "  old  dispensa- 
tion," I  was  visiting  a  hospitable  planter  on  the 
Savannah  River.  He  took  me  out  to  see  a  com- 
pany of  his  negro  slaves,  who  were  carrying  bags 
of  rice  on  their  heads  to  freight  a  vessel  which 
was  moored  at  the  riverside.  They  were  carry- 
ing their  burdens,  and  cheering  their  task  by 
chanting  a  wild  negro  melody.  After  he  returned 
to  his  mansion,  the  planter  said  to  me,  "  It  is  a 
tremendous  responsibility  to  be  the  owner  of  a 
hundred  human  beings."     There  was  his  burden. 


BURDEN-BEARING  23 

Perhaps  some  of  you  merchants  envy  your  book- 
keepers or  your  porters  who  have  only  to  carry 
on  their  tale  of  labor,  and  to  receive  their  wages. 
They,  in  turn,  may  often  say,  "What  an  easy 
time  our  employer  has !  He  performs  no  drudg- 
ery; he  sits  in  his  countingroom,  signs  checks, 
and  then  rides  home  to  his  fine  house  in  his  car- 
riage." Yet  on  your  busy  and  often  overworked 
brain  depends  the  continuance  of  their  salaries. 
For  so  has  God  wedded  capital  and  labor  to- 
gether, and  what  God  hath  joined,  let  no  dema- 
gogues tear  asunder! 

Some  burdens  are  inseparably  attached  to  us, 
and  deliverance  from  them  were  as  impossible  as 
to  exist  without  eating  or  sleeping.  Every  boy 
at  school  must  task  himself  with  words  of  one 
syllable  at  first,  and  so  on,  with  advancing  years, 
must  advance  into  more  difficult  lessons.  If  he 
shoulders  up  the  calf  he  will  gain  each  year  in- 
creasing strength,  until  in  time  he  can  carry  the 
full-grown  bullock.  Every  lot  in  life  must  answer 
to  the  roll  call  of  duty.  There  is  no  discharge  in 
that  war ;  and  behind  every  horseman  sits  dark- 
browed  Care.  Sorrow  also  is  no  respecter  of 
persons.  It  puts  aching  heads  under  royal 
crowns,  and  aching  hearts  on  beds  of  down  and 
couches    of    rosewood.      Perhaps,    during    your 


24  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

summer  outings  you  may  have  seen  some  pictur- 
esque mansion  reposing  on  its  sunny  lawns,  and 
surrounded  with  its  wealth  of  foliage ;  and  you 
have  said  to  yourself,  "  Happy  is  the  owner  of 
that  house ;  I  wish  it  were  mine."  Ah,  my  friend, 
the  owner  of  that  superb  residence  is  only  a  man ; 
and  where  man  lives  sin  dwells  and  sorrow  dwells 
likewise.  We  pastors  find  out  that  none  of  our 
flock  build  walls  high  enough  to  shut  out  dis- 
ease, disaster,  or  death ;  and  there  is  never  a 
house  without  some  "skeleton  in  a  closet." 
Every  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  As  no 
one  can  take  your  toothache  into  his  face,  so  no 
one  can  take  your  heartache  into  his  bosom. 

This  text  has  manifold  applications.  As  no 
one  can  feel  the  twinge  of  my  pain — bodily  or 
mental — so  no  one  can  do  my  work  but  myself 
You  may  engage  a  dozen  assistants  for  a  busy 
pastor,  but  all  combined  cannot  lift  off  an  ounce 
of  his  responsibility  ;  the  strain  finally  falls  back 
upon  his  nerves  and  his  conscience.  The  bodily 
infirmities  that  we  all  suffer,  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  are  often  a  heavy  clog.  My  beloved 
friend  Spurgeon  often  hobbled  in  intense  agony 
to  that  pulpit  which  he  flooded  with  sunshine. 
Cheerful  old  Paul  had  his  physical  load  to  carry, 
and  he  exclaims,  "  We  that  are  in  this  tabernacle 


BURDEN-BEARING  25 

[or  tent]  do  groan,  being  burdened."  With 
what  ?  With  a  sense  of  guilt  or  dread  of  hell  ? 
No ;  that  load  had  been  left  where  we  may  leave 
ours,  at  the  foot  of  Calvary's  cross.  But  the 
fleshly  hut,  in  which  Paul's  imperial  soul  was 
locked  up,  was  scarred  with  the  lash,  and  full  of 
aches  and  thorns  in  the  flesh.  Yet  under  this 
burden  of  bodily  pain,  and  of  the  "  care  of  all  the 
churches,"  and  of  crosses  that  galled  the  shoul- 
der, the  grand  old  hero  marched  on  to  glory, 
shouting.  There  is  not  a  blood-bought  heir  of 
heaven  in  this  assembly  who  ought  not  to  shout 
as  loud  as  he  did. 

A  true  Christian  grows  stronger  by  his  loads. 
Train  up  your  boy  on  confectioneries,  and  never 
lay  fifty  pounds  weight  on  him,  and  the  poor, 
flabby  little  creature  will  be  all  pulp.  Give  him 
stiff  tasks  to  do  and  heavy  loads  to  carry,  and  he 
may  have  some  chance  of  being  yet  a  man.  In 
that  way  God  deals  with  His  children.  He 
knows  that  burdens  will  make  them  strong.  So 
He  says  to  each  of  them :  "  Every  one  shall  bear 
his  own  burden.  There  is  thy  load,  carry  it; 
there  is  thy  place,  fill  it ;  there  is  thy  work,  do  it ; 
and'as  thy  day,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  The 
route  to  heaven  is  not  over  a  macadamized  road 
with  easy  grades.    It  has  many  a  "  hill  difficulty," 


26  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

where  the  cHmber  goeth  from  running  to  walk- 
ing, and  from  walking  to  a  tough  clambering  on 
his  hands  and  knees.  Let  us  not  murmur,  nor 
vainly  ask  for  ''  elevators  "  to  hoist  us  ;  for  one,  I 
have  lived  long  enough  in  this  world  to  thank 
God  for  difficulties.  The  grapple  with  them 
sinews  our  graces  and  gives  us  spiritual  force.  In 
God's  school  some  hard  lessons  are  to  be 
learned ;  and  there  are  no  "  elective  studies."  It 
is  very  pleasant  to  work  out  problems  in  addition 
and  in  multipHcation ;  but  when  our  Master  puts 
us  into  a  painful  problem  of  subtraction — when 
the  income  is  cut  off,  or  the  crib  is  emptied,  or 
the  staff  is  broken — then  we  cry  out,  "  O  God, 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me."  It  requires  great 
grace  to  be  able  then  to  say,  "  Nevertheless, 
Father;  not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt!"  For 
the  hardest  lesson  of  all  in  this  world  is — to  let 
God  have  His  way. 

The  Master's  command  to  His  disciples  has 
evermore  been,  "  Go  work  in  My  vineyard." 
This  is  not  merely  for  the  crop  to  be  raised  there, 
but  for  the  invigoration  of  our  spiritual  sinews 
and  to  utilize  our  powers.  A  work  for  every 
man,  and  every  man  to  his  work,  is  the  law  of 
honest  discipleship.  There  is  another  Hke  unto 
it,  "  Take  up  thy  cross,  and  follow  Me."     Why  ? 


BURDEN-BEARING  27 

Because  we  are  yet  in  a  sin-cursed  world,  and  the 
word  sin  and  the  word  cross  are  twin  brothers. 
Where  sin  is  there  must  be  an  attendant  cross — 
whether  it  be  my  own  sin  to  plague  me,  or  that 
of  others  to  try  my  patience  or  to  arouse  my 
efforts  to  save  them.  There  is  no  house  room  for 
crosses  in  heaven;  and  simply  because  sin  has 
never  entered  those  pearly  portals.  Here,  in  this 
world  of  sharp  antagonisms,  th-e  crucial  test  is, 
"  Whosoever  doth  not  take  up  his  cross,  and 
follow  Me,  cannot  be  My  disciple," 

Now,  these  are  ultimate  facts,  verified  by  every 
Christian's  experience.  The  Captain  of  our  sal- 
vation has  ordered  that  each  one  of  us  shall  en- 
dure hardness  as  good  soldiers — that  every  one 
must  shoulder  his  own  weapons  and  bear  his  own 
brunt  in  the  bivouac  and  the  battle.  And  all  this 
regimen  is  indispensable  to  the  growth  of  the 
soul  in  spiritual  force,  and  to  the  development  of 
the  grandest  thing  this  side  of  heaven,  and  that 
is — pure,  vigorous  and  Christlikc  cJiaractcr.  It  is 
not  to  their  credit,  nor  for  the  honor  of  their 
Master  that  some  Christians  seek  to  hide  their 
own  indolence  or  unbelief  under  that  other  in- 
junction, "Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord." 
Every  text  in  this  book  hath  its  own  place  and  its 
own  purpose.     No  truth  overlaps  or  obscures  or 


28  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

contradicts  another.  There  are  certain  burdens 
that  no  fellow-creature  can  carry  for  us,  and  that 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  never  offers  to  carry.  His 
imperative  command  is,  "  Every  man  shall  bear 
his  own  burden  " ;  and  the  object  of  this  is  that 
he  may  become  strojig  in  the  Lord. 

II.  After  this  brief  study  of  the  first  text,  let  us 
now  look  at  the  second,  which  does  not  contra- 
dict, but  rather  confirms  it.  **  Bear  ye  one  an- 
other's burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ." 
We  have  just  seen  how  the  carrying  of  certain 
loads  gives  us  strength.  But  there  are  other 
loads  which  we  can  help  our  fellow-pilgrims  to 
carry,  and  the  object  of  that  service  is  to  teach  us 
sympathy.  Happily  we  have  the  motive  for  this 
brotherly  service  given  in  the  text  itself  We  are 
thus  to  "fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  That  law  is 
love.  Yes,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  is  love.  He  so 
loved  us  that  He  bore  our  sins  in  His  own  body 
on  the  tree.  He  so  loved  the  wandering  sheep 
that  He  descended  from  the  skies  to  seek  for  and 
to  save  the  silly  truant  that  was  entangled  in  the 
thickets  or  foundering  in  the  mire.  And  when 
He  lays  it  on  His  shoulders — the  clean  bearing 
the  unclean,  the  Holy  bearing  the  unholy — He 
brings  it  back  to  the  fold,  "rejoicing."  He  is 
glad  for  the  sake  of  the  restored  sheep,  but  still 


BURDEN-BEARING  29 

more  for  His  own  sake — love  has  its  own  ecstasy 
of  reward.  You  will  remember  how  our  hearts 
were  thrilled  when  Mr.  Sankey  first  sang  for  us 
that  exquisite  paraphrase  of  the  parable  : — 

"  There  were  ninety-and-nine  that  safely  lay 

In  the  shelter  of  the  fold, 
But  one  was  out  on  the  hills  away, 

Far  off  from  the  gates  of  gold — 
Away  on  the  mountains  wild  and  bare, 

Away  from  the  tender  Shepherd's  care. 

*♦  But  none  of  the  ransomed  ever  knew 

How  deep  were  the  waters  cross' d  ; 
Nor  how  dark  was  the  night  that  the  Lord  pass'd  thro' 

Ere  He  found  His  sheep  that  was  lost. 
Out  in  the  desert  He  heard  its  cry — 

Sick  and  helpless,  and  ready  to  die. 

"  But  all  thro'  the  mountains,  thunder-riven. 

And  up  from  the  rocky  steep, 
There  arose  a  glad  cry  to  the  gate  of  heaven, 

*  Rejoice  !  I  have  found  My  sheep  !' 
And  the  angels  echoed  around  the  throne, 

'  Rejoice,  for  the  Lord  brings  back  His  own  !'  " 

Brings  back  His  own !  redeemed  by  His  own 
precious  blood  for  the  joy  set  before  Him!  If 
you  and  I,  fellow-sinners,  are  ever  landed  safe 
among  the  ringing  trumpets  and  the  sounding 
harps  in  glory,  it  will  be  entirely  because  that 
loving  Shepherd  has  brought  back  His  own. 


30  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

As  Jesus  Christ  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  per- 
ishing, so  He  bids  us  hasten  to  the  reHef  of  the 
overloaded  and  the  recovery  of  the  fallen.  This 
is  His  law  of  love.  Yonder,  for  example,  is  a 
poor  wretch  who  is  reeling  down  to  perdition 
under  the  weight  of  his  own  folly  and  sin.  Sharp- 
eyed  Selfishness  says :  "  Good  enough  for  him ; 
why  was  he  such  a  fool  as  to  drink  ?"  Jesus  says : 
"  Go  pull  out  of  the  fire  that  man  for  whom  I 
have  died !"  That  is  sympathy  in  action.  When 
the  Good  Samaritan  found  the  bleeding  Jew  by 
the  wayside,  he  did  not  insult  the  sufferer  with 
the  taunt,  "  You  ought  to  have  known  better 
than  to  travel  by  this  dangerous  road  alone." 
He  takes  up  the  burden  of  the  wounded  body, 
and,  when  he  reaches  the  inn,  he  slips  the  shilling 
into  the  keeper's  hands,  and  delicately  whispers, 
"  If  thou  spendest  more,  when  I  come  back  again, 
I  will  repay  thee."  There  spake  the  prince  of 
gentlemen  ;  for  true  politeness  is  kindness  of  heart 
kindly  expressed. 

The  law  of  Christian  sympathy  works  in  two 
directions :  either  it  helps  our  fellow-creatures  to 
get  rid  of  their  burdens  entirely,  or,  if  failing  in 
that,  it  helps  them  to  carry  the  load  more  lightly. 
Yonder  is  a  poor  widow  with  more  children  than 
she  can  feed  and  clothe.     Take  one  of  those  lads 


BURDEN-BEARING  31 

into  your  shop  or  warehouse,  and  let  that  widow's 
thanks  sweeten  your  cup  and  soften  your  pillow. 
A  youth  comes  to  you  from  the  country,  friend- 
less and  seeking  employment.  Just  as  on  a  rail- 
way one  inch  at  the  switch  determines  whether 
the  train  shall  move  on  its  straight  track  or  be 
shunted  over  an  embankment,  so  a  single  sym- 
pathetic act  of  helpfulness  to  that  youth  may 
decide  his  whole  future  for  weal  or  woe.  The 
Lord  makes  some  of  His  servants  rich,  or  strong, 
or  kind,  in  order  to  be  His  switch-tenders.  Here 
are  you,  worshiping  in  a  well-manned  and  affluent 
church.  Yonder  is  a  feeble  church  struggling  for 
existence.  Divide  your  forces  with  them,  and 
make  both  churches  the  richer;  one  by  what  it 
gives,  and  the  other  by  what  it  gets. 

As  I  have  said  already,  there  is  one  sense  in 
which  sorrow  can  be  borne  only  by  the  sufferer 
himself;  there  is  another  in  which  that  sorrow 
can  be  lightened  by  your  tender  sympathy.  Bear 
ye  one  another's  burdens.  Sometimes  a  small  lift 
is  very  timely.  A  single  kind  word,  a  little  oil  of 
sympathy  on  a  sore  spot,  a  message  of  condo- 
lence when  crape  hangs  at  the  doorbell,  a  gift  in 
the  hour  of  need,  an  approving  smile,  all  such 
things  do  help  a  fellow-creature  most  wonder- 
fully.    It  is  to  the  reproach  of  us  all  that  we  do 


32  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

not    oftener    act    the    Good    Samaritan   in   little 
things. 

Some  of  you  may  recall  that  beautiful  incident 
narrated  by  our  noble  American  missionary  to 
the  Orient,  Miss  Fidelia  Fiske.  She  tells  us  that 
on  a  warm  Sabbath  afternoon  she  was  seated  on 
the  earthen  floor  of  her  mission-chapel  and  feel- 
ing utterly  exhausted.  "  Just  then,  as  God  would 
order  it,  a  Syrian  woman  came  and  seated  herself 
right  behind  me,  so  that  I  could  lean  on  her,  and 
she  invited  me  to  do  so.  I  declined,  but  she  drew 
me  back  and  said,  '  If  you  love  me,  lean  hard.' 
Very  refreshing  was  that  support.  Then  came 
the  Master's  own  voice,  '  If  you  love  me,  lean 
Jiard' ;  and  I  leaned  on  Him  too,  for  He  had 
preached  to  me  through  that  poor  woman.  I  was 
rested  before  the  service  was  over ;  then  I  spent 
an  hour  with  the  woman  and,  after  sunset,  rode 
six  miles  to  my  own  home.  I  wondered  that  I 
was  not  weary  that  night,  and  I  have  rested  ever 
since  on  those  sweet  words."  They  belonged  to 
the  choicest  vocabulary  of  love.  Many  a  mother 
has  had  the  same  thought  as  she  pressed  her 
infant  to  her  bosom.  More  than  one  true-hearted 
husband,  as  he  lifted  from  the  couch  the  pre- 
cious burden — which  he  sadly  found  was  growing 
lighter  every  day — has  whispered  into  eager  ears, 


BURDEN-BEARING  33 

•'  My  darling,  if  you  love  me,  lean  hard."     Love 
likes  to  feel  the  weight  of  trust. 

This  beautiful  "  law  of  Christ  "  was  the  germi- 
nal principle  from  which  sprang  the  primitive 
Christian  Church.  The  power  from  on  high 
which  descended  at  Pentecost  was  essentially  a 
love-power.  Those  unselfish  men  and  women, 
who  went  forth  from  that  upper  room  in  Jerusa- 
lem, were  burden-lifters  in  the  name  and  in  the 
strength  of  Him  who  had  just  borne  the  burden 
of  human  guilt  in  His  bleeding  body  on  the 
cross.  The  only  genuine  successors  of  the 
apostles  have  been  the  load-lifters.  Their  creed 
and  watchword  have  always  been,  "  Unto  Him 
that  loved  us  and  loosed  us  from  our  sins  by  His 
blood ;  to  Him  be  the  glory  and  the  dominion  for 
ever  and  ever !"  Every  stream  of  Christian  sym- 
pathy that  has  gladdened  human  hearts  came 
from  this  Divine  fount-head  in  the  heart  of  Jesus. 
All  labors  to  Hghten  the  overload  of  human 
guilt  and  misery  and  want — the  enlightenment  of 
the  ignorant,  the  rightening  of  the  wronged,  the 
deliverance  of  the  oppressed,  the  visitation  of  the 
sick,  and  comforting  of  the  bereaved,  the  gospel- 
ing  of  the  heathen  and  the  whole  magnificent 
enterprise  of  missions;  all  these  are  the  precious 
product  of  this  principle,  "  Bear  ye  one  another's 

3 


34  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christy  The 
most  successful  missionaries  and  ministers  are 
those  who  come  closest  to  human  hearts.  The 
secret  of  power  with  General  Booth  and  his  "  Sal- 
vationists "  is  their  personal  sympathy  with  the 
wretched  and  the  wrecked.  When  the  members 
of  our  churches  become  "  sons  of  consolation  "  in 
the  broadest  sense  of  the  word — bestowing  not 
only  their  dollars  but  their  time,  their  presence, 
and  their  heart-beats  upon  the  unchristianized 
masses,  we  shall  have  a  primitive  and  pentecostal 
revival.  Pulpits  speak  only  for  an  hour  or  two 
each  week,  and  then  only  to  those  who  occupy 
the  pews  before  them;  it  is  only  by  sermons  in 
shoes  that  the  suffering  and  the  sinning  can  be 
reached.  The  need  of  the  time  is  not  for  more 
geniuses  in  the  pulpit,  but  for  more  personal  con- 
secration among  Christians  to  this  "law  of 
Christ." 

III.  Let  us  push  on  now  to  the  third  and  last 
of  this  beautiful  triplet  of  texts.  The  first  one 
taught  self-help :  "  Every  man  shall  bear  his  own 
burden."  The  object  of  it  is  to  give  us  spiritual 
strength.  The  second  text  teaches  brotherly 
help :  "  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens."  The 
object  of  it  is  to  inspire  sympathy.  Of  these  three 
texts  the  third  is  the  Kohinoor  jewel ;  for  it  leads 


BURDEN-BEARING  35 

us  up  to  the  Divine  help  :  "  Cast  thy  burden  upon 
the  Lord." 

This  passage  has  suffered  at  the  hands  of  some 
mystics,  who  have  volatiHzed  it  into  a  very  thin 
and  vaporous  meaning.  The  Hebrew  word  trans- 
lated "  burden,"  really  signifies  that  which  is 
given  to  us,  or  that  which  is  appointed  to  every 
man  to  bear.  We  must,  therefore,  understand  the 
Psalmist  to  say — whatever  thy  God  lays  upon 
thee,  thou  must  lay  it  upon  the  Lord.  He  has 
cast  thy  lot  for  thee.  Then  cast  thy  lot  upon 
Him. 

But  can  this  text  be  reconciled  with  the  two 
others  ?  Yes  ;  quite  easily.  We  are  commanded 
to  bear  our  own  burdens,  and  this  requires 
the  resolute  performance  of  our  own  duties. 
God  will  not  release  us  from  duty;  but  He 
will  sustain  us  in  the  doing  of  it.  The  load 
which  is  laid  upon  us  will  not  crush  us  ;  for  He 
will  give  us  strength  equal  to  our  day.  If  other 
people  wonder  why  and  how  we  march  along 
under  the  load  without  breaking  down,  our  only 
answer  is :  "  We  put  this  load  upon  the  strength 
which  God  put  into  us.  His  grace  was  sufficient 
to  enable  us  to  bear  the  burden."  God's  wonder- 
ful and  gracious  offer  is  to  lighten  our  loads  by 
putting  Himself,  as  it  were,  into  our  souls,  and 


36  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

underneath  the  loads.  This  is  a  supernatural 
process ;  and  the  whole  walk  of  faith  through 
hfe  is  the  simple  but  subHme  reliance  upon  an  al- 
mighty arm  that  is  never  seen  but  always  felt. 
This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  word  **  trust " 
is  the  key  word  of  Old-Testament  theology,  and 
the  word  "  beheve  "  is  the  key  word  in  the  New 
Testament.  They  both  mean  substantially  the 
same  thing.  And  when  our  heavenly  Father 
saith,  "  Cast  thy  burden  upon  Me,"  and  our  loving 
Redeemer  saith,  "  Cast  the  load  of  thy  sins  upon 
Me,"  they  expect  us  to  take  them  at  their  word. 

There  is  a  universal  and  perpetual  need  for  this 
tonic  text. 

On  every  side  we  meet  overloaded  people,  and 
each  one  thinks  his  burden  is  the  biggest.  One 
is  worried  about  his  health,  and  another  about  his 
diminished  income,  and  another  about  her  sick 
child,  and  another  about  her  children  yet  uncon- 
verted ;  and  so  each  man  or  woman  that  has  a 
worry  of  some  sort  goes  staggering  along  under 
it.  In  the  meantime  a  loving  and  omnipotent 
Father  says  to  every  one  of  them :  "  Cast  thy 
burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  sustain  thee." 
As  if  this  one  offer  were  not  enough,  the  Holy 
Spirit  repeats  it  again  in  the  New  Testament: 
"  Casting  all  your  anxktics    upon   Him,  for  He 


BURDEN-BEARING  37 

careth  for  you."  This  is  the  more  accurate  ren- 
dering in  the  Revised  Version ;  because  the  word 
"  care  "  does  not  signify  here  wise  forethought  for 
the  future,  but  that  soul-harassing  thing  called 
"  worry."  The  reason  given  for  rolling  our  wor- 
ries over  upon  God  is  very  tender  and  touching. 
"  He  careth  for  you "  means  that  He  takes  an 
interest  in  you — He  has  you  on  His  heart! 
Beautiful  and  wonderful  thought !  It  is  the  same 
idea  which  the  Psalmist  had  in  his  mind  when  he 
declares  that  the  Lord  telleth  the  number  of  the 
stars,  and  yet  He  healeth  the  broken  in  heart  and 
bindeth  up  their  wounds. 

He  is  the  one  who  says,  "  My  child,  don't  carry 
that  burden."  The  infinite  Ruler  of  the  universe, 
who  is  wise  in  counsel  and  wonderful  in  working ; 
the  God  who  guarded  the  infant  Moses  in  his 
basket  of  rushes ;  who  sent  His  messenger  birds 
to  Elijah  by  the  brook  Cherith ;  who  quieted 
Daniel  among  the  ravenous  beasts  and  calmed 
Paul  in  the  raging  tempest — He  it  is  who  says  to 
us,  *'  Roll  your  anxieties  over  on  Me,  for  I  have 
you  on  My  heart."  Yet  how  many  of  us  there 
are  who  hug  our  troubles  and  say  to  God,  "  No, 
we  will  not  let  anybody  carry  these  troubles  but 
ourselves."  What  fools  we  are  !  Just  imagine  a 
weary,  foot-sore  traveler  tugging  along  with  his 


38  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

pack  on  a  hot  July  day.  A  wagon  comes  up,  and 
the  kind-hearted  owner  calls  out :  "  Friend,  you 
look  tired.  Toss  that  pack  into  my  wagon."  But 
the  wayfarer,  eyeing  him  suspiciously,  mutters  to 
himself,  "  Perhaps  he  wants  to  steal  it,"  or  else 
sullenly  rephes,  "  I  am  obHged  to  you,  sir,  but  I 
can  carry  my  own  luggage."  The  folly  of  such 
conduct  is  equal  to  that  of  the  man  who  should 
check  his  trunk  through  to  Chicago  and  then 
run  into  the  baggage  car  every  hour  to  see  if  his 
trunk  is  safe.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  trust  our 
own  valuable  property  to  railway  officials  and  ex- 
pressmen, and  we  laugh  at  the  folly  of  those  who 
refuse  to  do  it ;  would  it  not  be  well  then  for  us 
to  *'  check  through  "  all  our  dearest  interests  as 
well  as  our  cares  ?  When  we  reach  the  door  of 
our  Father's  house  we  shall  find  that  all  our 
treasures  worth  keeping  are  safe,  and.  that  not  one 
of  them  has  been  lost  by  the  way. 

I  cannot  close  this  discourse  without  reminding 
you  that  the  mightiest  burden  that  can  ever  weigh 
down  a  human  soul  is  Sin  !  Everything  else 
seems  light  by  comparison.  Poverty,  friendless- 
ness,  reproach,  sickness,  bereavement,  all  can  be, 
and  have  been,  endured  cheerfully;  and  the  valley 
of  the  death-shade  has  often  rung  with  songs  of 
triumph.      But   who    can    stand    up    under    that 


BURDEN-BEARING  39 

weight  that  has  crushed  myriads  into  hell  ? 
Who  can  bear  through  life,  and  on  up  to  the 
judgment  seat,  an  evil  conscience  and  a  guilty, 
unpardoned  soul? 

Here  comes  in  the  sweetest  and  the  sublimest 
truth  in  all  the  realm  of  Divine  revelation.  Listen 
to  it,  all  ye  sin-burdened  ones  !  If  all  the  rest  of 
our  Bible  were  torn  away  from  us,  we  could  find 
enough  to  inspire  our  hope  and  to  insure  our 
heaven  in  this  one  glorious  verse,  "All  we  like 
sheep  have  gone  astray;  we  have  turned  every 
one  to  his  own  way ;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on 
Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  Surely  He  hath 
borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows,  and 
with  His  stripes  we  are  healed.  Jesus,  the  Divine 
Burden-bearer,  is  the  sublime  and  ineffably  lov- 
able figure  that  I  now  present  before  you.  All 
the  paths  of  the  gospel  lead  to  Calvary.  Does 
any  one  of  you  cry  out,  "  Mine  iniquities  have 
gone  over  my  head,  and  as  a  heavy  burden,  they 
are  too  heavy  for  me  "  ?  Listen  to  that  match- 
less voice,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  you  who  are 
weary  and  heavyladen,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

Oh,  I  pray  for  some  practical  and  lasting  fruits 
from  these  triple  texts.  I  long  to  behold  all  of 
you  lifted  by  this  threefold  cord  out  of  your  griefs 
and  out    of  your  guilt.     Methinks    I    see   some 


40  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

poor  burdened   heart  pass   out   of  yonder   door 
saying : — 

"  I  lay  my  griefs  on  Jesus, 

My  burdens  and  my  cares  ; 
He  from  the  load  releases, 
He  all  my  sorrows  shares." 

There  is  another  whose  load  is  the  heaviest  of 
all ;  for  he  came  hither  "  condemned  already  "  by 
his  conscious  guilt.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  opened 
his  eyes  to  behold  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh 
away  sin ;  and  he  has  opened  his  heart  to  the 
Saviour.  He  will  go  homeward  to-day  singing 
this  new  song : — 

"  I've  laid  my  sins  on  Jesus, 

The  spotless  Lamb  of  God, 
He  bears  them  all,  and  frees  us 

From  the  accursed  load. 
I've  brought  my  guilt  to  Jesus, 

To  wash  my  crimson  stains 
White  in  His  blood  most  precious 

Till  not  a  stain  remains  !" 


Ill 

PIVOT  BATTLES  IN   LIFE 


Ill 

PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE 

*•  And  there  was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it,  that  the 
Lord  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  a  man  :  for  the  Lord  fought 
for  Israel." — Joshua  x.  14. 

With  these  words  concludes  the  narrative  of 
that  decisive  battle  which  gave  Canaan  into  the 
hands  of  the  children  of  Israel.  There  were 
other  conflicts,  indeed,  before  this  battle.  There 
were  several  after  it — fierce  conflicts  and  furious. 
But  on  this  battle  of  Gibeon  the  whole  campaign 
turned  as  on  a  pivot.  Victory  there  proved  to  be 
victory  everywhere,  until  Israel's  land  of  promise 
became  Israel's  land  of  possession. 

And  so  the  civil  and  martial  history  of  the 
world  has  turned  on  a  few  decisive  battles.  Had 
they  resulted  differently,  the  whole  history  of 
mankind  might  have  been  changed.  On  the 
field  of  Marathon,  for  example,  Greece  was  saved 
from  the  heel  of  Persian  despotism.  On  the  field 
of  Arbela  Alexander  conquered  the  Oriental 
world.     The  question  whether  Britons  or  French- 

43 


44  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

men  should  rule  France  was  determined  when 
Joan  of  Arc,  in  her  snow-white  armor,  rode  her 
coal-black  steed  up  the  heights  of  Orleans.  The 
battle  of  Marengo  placed  the  iron  crown  on  Na- 
poleon's brow ;  Waterloo  swept  it  off,  and  sent 
the  desolator  to  the  prison  rock  of  St.  Helena. 
Our  Revolutionary  War  lasted  through  eight 
long  weary  years,  and  had  its  dark  nights  when 
the  patriot  father  would  "put  none  but  Ameri- 
cans on  guard "  ;  but  the  whole  war  turned  on 
the  pivot  of  Saratoga.  All  these  battles  just 
named  w^ere  decisive.  They  settled  the  fate  of 
empires  or  of  dynasties.  Had  they  resulted 
differently  the  history  of  the  world  would  have 
had  a  very  different  reading.  God  so  ordered  it, 
in  His  wise  providence,  that  mighty  results  hung 
on  the  issue  of  those  encounters.  Kingdoms, 
systems,  dynasties  were  balanced  on  the  point  of 
a  sword. 

Now  every  man  is  a  miniature  nation,  and 
every  human  life  has  its  one  or  more  decisive 
battles.  They  are  like  Joshua's  conflict  at 
Gibeon.  There  is  no  day  like  those  days,  either 
before  or  after  them,  in  all  that  man's  existence. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  discuss  those  moral  con- 
flicts on  which  depends  the  destiny  of.  souls  for 
time  and  for  eternity.     I  cannot,  of  course,  in  one 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  45 

brief  sermon  review  all  the  conflicts  of  soul  to 
which  each  one  may  be  exposed  throughout  a 
lifetime.  But  I  will  try  to  indicate  the  principle 
struggles  of  life — what  they  are,  and  how  to 
make  these  moral  battle  grounds  scenes  of  glori- 
ous victory. 

And,  at  the  outset,  I  would  observe  that  every 
effective  influential  life  is  marked  with  sharp  and 
severe  struggles.  There  is  but  one  way  to  avoid 
these,  and  that  is  to  sacrifice  living  to  bare  exist- 
ence. Such  a  thing  is  possible.  I  can  show  you 
human  beings  whose  existence  is  as  meaningless 
and  monotonous  as  that  of  an  oyster.  To  sleep 
through  so  many  hours,  to  feed  the  body  so 
many  times  a  day,  to  walk  over  a  certain  dreary 
routine  of  uselessness,  and  at  last  to  drop  through 
into  an  unnoticed  grave  and  be  buried  forever, 
makes  up  the  sum  of  the  only  existence  that 
some  immortal  beings  ever  accomplish.  But  life 
is  quite  a  different  matter.  And  the  loftier,  the 
grander  the  life,  the  more  eventful  is  it  in  conflicts. 
All  history  teaches  this.  Every  day's  observa- 
tion confirms  it.  Daniel,  the  conqueror  of  lions 
in  the  den,  and  of  imperial  brutes  in  the  Baby- 
lonian palace;  Ezra,  the  Jewish  reformer,  Paul, 
the  peerless,  preacher  of  the  cross,  Augustine, 
Knox,   Luther,   Palissy  the    Huguenot,    Buiiyan, 


46  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

Clarkson,  Payson — were  they  not  all  men  of 
strife  and  struggle  ?  They  were  type-men,  model 
men,  not  perfect,  indeed,  but  earnestly  pressing 
toward  the  fullness  of  the  stature  of  Jesus  Christ. 
And  their  entire  careers  turned  on  a  few  decisive 
encounters.  Had  those  critical  conflicts  of  soul 
resulted  differently,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  we 
should  never  have  heard  these  now  celebrated 
names  at  all.  There  is  an  especial  reason  why 
every  strong  impressive  Hfe  should  be  one  of  con- 
flict. It  is  a  necessity.  For  strong  resolute  wills 
must  encounter  opposition,  and  make  it  too,  just 
as  the  impetuous  locomotive  meets  more  opposi- 
tion from  the  air  than  the  slow-creeping  dray  or 
the  tiny  child's  coach.  Strong-willed,  intellectual, 
gifted  men  and  women  are  more  fiercely  fought 
for  than  inferior  people.  They  are  the  prizes. 
Virtue  and  vice  contend  for  such  precious  posses- 
sions. "  The  Lord  hath  need  "  of  such  ;  and  the 
devil  aims  to  make  them  his  splendid  spoil. 
Every  man's  Hfe-march  has  its  conflicts ;  the  more 
conspicuous  and  influential  the  life,  the  more 
memorable  spots  are  its  battlefields. 

The  conflict  of  life  is  threefold.  That  is,  sin 
presents  itself  in  three  modes;  every  soul  has 
three  spiritual  enemies  to  meet :  The  world,  the 
flesh,  the  devil.     By  the  "world"  we  mean  that 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  47 

whole  system  of  self-seeking,  pride,  and  covetous- 
ness  that  is  so  congenial  to  the  human  heart. 
The  "  flesh  "  typifies  sensual  appetites.  And  the 
devil  is  the  author  of  doubt  and  unbelief,  of  soul- 
enmity  to  God.  These  are  the  "  triple  alliance  " 
from  the  pit.  Against  one  or  all  of  these  must 
every  soul  do  battle  on  its  way  to  heaven.  Be- 
fore these  powers  of  darkness  so  well  trained  and 
so  well  equipped,  so  deadly  in  assault,  and  so  flush 
with  arrogance,  every  one  of  you  young  men 
may  well  call  out  to  your  will  and  your  con- 
science, as  Wellington  called  out  in  the  critical 
moment  behind  Hougomont :  "  Here  are  the 
enemy  !     Up,  guards,  and  at  them  I" 

I.  In  offering  you  now  some  practical  sugges- 
tions for  these  moral  warfares,  let  me  remind  you 
that  your  first  conflicts  will  probably  be  with 
sensual  temptations.  It  is  not  the  fault  but  the 
trial  of  youth  that  its  blood  is  warm,  its  impulses 
are  ardent,  and  its  physical  appetites  clamorous 
for  gratification.  So  far  as  these  appetites  are 
natural  you  are  not  to  blame  for  them.  The  sin 
does  not  lie  in  possessing  them,  but  in  indulging 
them.  The  appetite  for  strong  drink  when  con- 
trolled is  as  harmless  as  a  caged  tiger.  The  dan- 
ger comes  from  uncaging  the  monster.  While 
young   men   have   sensual    appetites,    and    while 


48  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

thousands  of  abandoned  people  are  incessantly 
inflaming  those  appetites  by  the  most  enticing 
and  fascinating  lures,  there  must  be  a  warfare  be- 
tween the  conscience  and  the  passions.  This  is 
inevitable.  My  friend,  you  cannot  walk  our 
streets  without  running  the  gauntlet  of  ten  thou- 
sand decoys  to  ruin.  All  these  lighted,  decorated, 
chandeliered,  and  tapestried  saloons  are  so  many 
fortresses  of  the  enemy.  Their  danger  to  you 
lies  in  the  temptible  material  in  your  own  breast. 
You  may  fling  as  many  burning  brands  as  you 
choose  into  a  snowbank ;  there  is  no  harm  done. 
But  one  spark  is  enough  to  send  a  powder  maga- 
zine into  the  air.  Your  peril  is  in  direct  proportion 
to  the  strength  of  your  appetites  and  the  weakness 
of  your  moral  principle.  A  very  weak  tempta- 
tion will  send  a  weak  conscience  to  perdition.  It 
requires  more  than  a  strong  temptation  to  over- 
throw a  strong-souled  man  of  God.  But  no 
temptation  is  an  overmatch  for  a  soul  steel  clad  in 
celestial  armor  and  sentineled  by  God's  protect- 
ing Spirit. 

What  allurements  could  be  stronger  than  those 
which  Potiphar's  wanton  wife  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  youthful  Joseph  ?  For  remember  that 
he  was  just  at  an  age  when  passion  flames  the 
fiercest  and  beauty  is    most  intoxicating   to    the 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  49 

eye.  Remember  that  he  was  an  underling,  and 
completely  in  the  power  of  his  profligate  mistress. 
Remember,  too,  that  the  high  road  to  wealth  and 
luxury  lay  through  that  mistress's  guilty  favor; 
while  she  could  doom  him  to  insult  and  imprison- 
ment if  he  thwarted  her  salacious  lust.  That  was 
the  decisive  battle  in  Joseph's  career.  It  was  his 
pivot  moment.  Defeat  then  would  have  been 
swift  destruction.  But  after  he  had  once  spurned 
the  jeweled  duchess  of  a  court,  it  was  easy  to 
spurn  the  filthy  drab  from  the  kennel.  It  was 
easy  to  keep  his  integrity  in  a  prison  when  he 
had  already  kept  it  in  a  palace.  If  you,  my 
friend,  would  make  your  battles  with  appetite  as 
successfully  decisive  as  Joseph  did,  imitate  his 
example.  Give  the  subtle  enemy  no  quarter. 
Set  your  faces  Hke  a  flint.  Do  not  yield  an  inch 
if  you  would  not  be  drawn  a  league.  There  is 
but  one  sure  way  to  escape  the  doom  that  lies  in 
the  bottom  of  the  wine  cup,  and  that  is  to  let  the 
cup  alone.  No  matter  who  may  proffer  it — even 
the  sister  of  your  childhood,  or  her  who  is  dearer 
than  any  sister  can  be. 

As  soon  touch  strychnine  as  that  intoxicating 

glass.     There  is  also  but  one  certain  way  to  avoid 

the  gambler's   infamy  and    ruin — don't   touch   a 

card.     Stick  to  this   resolution  and  the  battle  is 

4 


50  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

won.  Would  you  preserve  yourself  chaste  (and 
God  commands  men  to  be  pure  as  much  as  He 
does  women  or  angels)  ?  Would  you  keep  chaste 
in  a  city  whose  very  air  is  tainted  with  pollution  ? 
Shut  your  eyes  and  ears  to  every  tempter.  In 
five  minutes  passion  may  kindle  far  enough  to 
consume  the  good  resolutions  of  a  lifetime ;  and 
when  passion  gets  under  way  it  is  like  the  Rus- 
sian's burning  of  Moscow,  where  a  thousand 
places  are  lighted  at  once.  The  question  whether 
you  shall  be  a  sot  or  a  sober  man  ?  whether  you 
shall  be  a  companion  of  honest  men  or  of  game- 
sters ?  whether  you  shall  be  clean-hearted  or  pos- 
sess an  imagination  that  shall  be  but  a  hideous 
brothel  ?  is  often  decided  in  a  moment.  Oh, 
what  a  moral  battlefield  is  this  great  city,  where 
on  each  successive  night  is  waged  a  conflict  more 
momentous  than  ever  roared  on  the  streets  of 
Montebello  or  raged  about  the  heights  of  Sol- 
ferino !  When  the  moonlight  flings  its  silver 
spell  over  quiet  streets,  and  leafy  parks,  and  glit- 
tering spires ;  when  the  cheek  of  innocence 
presses  its  pillow,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest,  the 
eye  of  God  beholds  in  ten  thousand  hearts  the 
most  terrible  combats  between  conscience  and  the 
tempter,  between  the  legions  of  lust  and  the  little 
Spartan  band  of  virtue,  temperance,  and  purity. 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  51 

What  struggles  docs  that  all-sccing  eye  look 
down  upon  !  What  victories  !  What  defeats  and 
incipient  damnations  !  Where  no  father  is  by  to 
give  aid,  how  many  a  son  is  struck  down ! 
Where  no  dear  mother's  voice  can  be  heard  in 
warning  or  in  entreaty,  how  many  a  darling  child 
of  affection  is  stabbed  through  the  soul  by 
Satan's  midnight  assassins !  Said  we  not  rightly 
that  these  are  decisive  conflicts  ?  For  in  the 
great  day  of  judgment  it  will  often  appear  that  a 
single  hour  on  earth  did  determine  the  destiny  of 
the  man  for  heaven  or  hell  to  all  eternity. 

II.  But  there  are  other  battles  beside  those 
with  sensuality.  The  "  world "  is  as  dangerous 
an  enemy  as  the  flesh.  By  the  "  world  "  we 
mean  the  spirit  of  the  world,  the  selfishness  that 
cares  not  for  God,  the  covetousness  that  worships 
mammon,  the  ambition  that  sacrifices  every  one 
and  everything  on  its  own  selfish  altar,  the  god- 
Jessness  that  knows  no  Bible  but  a  ledger,  no 
heaven  but  a  splendid  mansion  or  a  high  office, 
no  law  but  policy,  and  fears  no  hell  but  poverty 
or  political  defeat.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  this 
spirit  is  most  destructive  to  religion  and  most 
offensive  to  God.  You  know  all  that.  No  man 
is  so  selfish  as  not  to  hate  selfishness.  The  miser 
pities  the  covetousness  of  other  men.    The  world- 


52  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

ling  sees  how  the  world  is  ruining  its  devotees, 
just  as  every  drunkard  sees  that  his  comrades  are 
in  danger  of  a  drunkard's  grave.  There  is  no 
spirit  more  absorbing,  more  insinuating,  more  de- 
ceptive, more  soul  hardening  than  this  very  spirit 
of  worldliness  in  its  manifold  developments. 
You  must  conquer  it  or  it  will  enslave  you. 

Whenever  this  subtle  monopolizing  spirit  comes 
into  antagonism  with  your  conscience  then  you 
are  put  to  the  test  to  prove  "  what  manner  of 
man  ye  are  of"  In  business,  in  public  life,  in 
social  life,  in  your  innermost  religious  life,  will 
arise  these  decisive  conflicts,  often  the  most  de- 
cisive when  you  least  expect  it.  At  an  unlooked 
for  moment  you  may  be  called  to  determine  some 
question  on  the  issue  of  which  depends  your 
peace  of  mind,  your  spiritual  health,  your  Chris- 
tian character.  You  will  pass  through  ordeals 
which  will  test  exactly  how  much  you  are  willing 
to  do  and  how  much  you  are  glad  to  suffer  for 
Jesus'  sake.  Duty  will  call  you  one  way — a 
thorny  way.  Self-interest  will  beckon  you  into 
the  opposite  path — carpeted  with  velvet.  That  is 
a  decisive  moment  for  you.  A  simple  "yes"  or 
an  emphatic  "  no  "  may  cost  you  a  fortune,  may 
cost  you  a  troop  of  friends,  may  cost  you  political 
promotion,  may  cost  you  your  character,  may  cost 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  53 

you  your  soul.  How  many  a  public  man  has  had 
his  whole  career  decided  by  his  course  in  some 
trying  emergency  or  on  some  one  great  question 
of  right !  He  is  led  up  into  the  mount  of  tempta- 
tion where  some  gigantic  iniquity  bids  him  bow 
down  and  worship  it,  and  promises  in  return  "  all 
the  world  and  the  glory  thereof"  From  that 
mount  of  trial  he  comes  down  a  hero  or  a  fool. 
The  die  is  cast  If  he  has  honored  justice  and 
truth,  then  justice  and  truth  will  honor  him ;  if 
not,  his  bones  will  be  left  bleaching  on  the  road 
to  a  promotion  he  can  never  reach. 

That  was  a  hard  struggle  for  Nathaniel  Ripley 
Cobb,  of  Boston,  when  he  decided  to  accumulate 
no  more  than  fifty  thousand  dollars  during  his 
life,  and  to  give  all  the  surplus  to  the  treasury  of 
the  Lord.  But  after  the  noble  resolution  was 
once  taken,  selfishness  was  a  conquered  lust  in 
that  man's  breast  forever.  He  had  come  off  more 
than  conqueror.  How  many  a  minister  of  Christ 
has  been  charged  upon  and  overcome  by  this  ac- 
cursed spirit  of  "worldly  wisdom  "  !  He  was  put 
to  the  decisive  test,  not  in  Nero's  judgment-hall 
or  before  Agrippa's  tribunal ;  not  before  a  Popish 
inquisitor  or  in  sight  of  Smithfield's  fires  of  mar- 
tyrdom. But  in  his  quiet  study,  when  some  timid 
friend  counseled  a  treacherous  silence  in  his  pulpit 


54  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

on  some  vital  question  of  right,  his  "  yes  "  or  his 
"no"  has  either  called  from  his  Master  the  pre- 
cious benediction,  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant,"  or  else  the  fearful  anathema,  "  Ye 
were  ashamed  of  Me  and  of  My  truth,  and  of  thee 
will  I  be  ashamed  before  My  Father  and  His  holy 
angels !"  We  all  have  our  moral  Marengos  and 
our  Waterloos,  where  we  win  or  lose  the  crown 
of  Christian  character.  When  these  decisive  con- 
flicts come  on  between  your  conscience  on  the 
one  hand,  and  some  selfish  scheme  or  satanic 
iniquity  on  the  other,  then  try  to  remember  a 
few  simple  rules  of  moral  war: — 

1.  Never  change  your  position  in  sight  of  an 
enemy.  This  was  a  fatal  policy  to  the  allies  at 
Austerlitz.  It  has  cost  many  a  disgraceful  defeat 
in  spiritual  warfare. 

2.  Never  place  on  guard  a  doubtful  or  a  ques- 
tionable principle.  Your  sentinel  will  be  sure 
to  betray  you. 

3.  Never  abandon  the  high  ground  of  right  for 
the  lowlands  of  expediency.  Before  you  are 
aware  you  will  be  swamped  in  the  bottomless 
morass  of  ruin. 

4.  Get  your  moral  armor  from  God's  word,  and 
"  put  on  the  whole  armor."  An  exposed  spot  in 
character  may  admit  the  fatal  weapon  of  the  foe. 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  55 

Ahab  was  wounded  through  the  joints  of  his 
harness.  Do  not  mind  blows  in  the  face.  Heroes 
are  wounded  in  the  face,  cowards  in  the  back. 

5.  But  whether  wounded  by  foes  or  deserted 
by  friends,  never  surrender.  It  is  said  that  not 
one  of  the  old  Imperial  Guard  survived  the  wreck 
of  Waterloo.  Toward  the  sunset  of  that  long 
bloody  day,  when  the  surviving  remnant  of  the 
guards  was  summoned  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
the  scarred  veterans  of  fifty  victorious  fights  cried 
out:  "The  old  guards  can  die,  but  they  never 
learned  to  surrender !"  The  glorious  Captain  of 
our  salvation  could  die  for  us,  but  He  could  not 
desert  us.  Blessed  is  he  who  is  found  faithful. 
He  shall  wear  the  crown  of  amaranth  in  the 
paradise  of  God. 

III.  But  we  are  driven  on  to  our  third  and  last 
head — the  conflict  between  faith  and  unbelief 
This  is  the  most  momentous  of  all  the  struggles 
in  which  your  souls  can  be  involved — faith, 
evangelic  faith  on  the  one  side  and  unbelief  on 
the  other.  By  unbelief  I  mean  something  besides 
ordinary  skepticism.  You  are  not  skeptics.  Not 
many  young  men  are  infidels,  especially  if  their 
infancy  has  nestled  against  the  heart-throb  of  a 
pious  mother,  or  if  their  childhood  has  been  led 
up  through  a  Sabbath  school.     By  "unbelief"  I 


56  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

refer  to  the  heart's  rejection  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Here  hes  the  real  battle  after  all.  The  simple 
issue  is,  Shall  Christ  have  possession  of  the  soul 
or  not  ?  That  is  the  conflict.  Faith  is  believing 
in  Christ  and  following  after  Christ.  And  he  that 
believeth  on  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  saved.  He 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  condemned.  The  ulti- 
mate conflict  with  every  one  of  you  will  be,  Shall 
Christ  or  Satan  rule  my  heart  ? 

My  friend,  you  may  have  gained  decisive  vic- 
tories already  over  sensuality,  over  selfishness, 
and  over  the  truckhng  cowardice  of  "worldly 
wisdom."  But  the  great  encounter  that  decides 
the  life-campaign  is  between  Christ  and  Christ's 
enemy.  What  other  conflict  than  this  was  in  the 
mind  of  Paul  when  he  wrote  that  most  plaintive 
outcry  in  the  seventh  chapter  to  the  Romans  ? 
Of  what  other  battle  did  he  sing  the  exultant 
pean  in  those  jubilant  words :  "  I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  ...  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give 
me  at  that  day  "?  And  bringing  it  right  home  to 
yourself,  I  ask  you,  what  was  that  struggle  in 
your  own  bosom  when  you  trembled  under  God's 
word,  when  your  own  nature  fortified  itself  against 
the  blessed  assaults  of  redeeming  love,  when  your 


PIVOT  BATTLES  IN  LIFE  57 

aroused  conscience  cried  out,  "  Lord !  what  must 
I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  Of  all  life's  conflicts  this,  this 
is  the  decisive  one.  It  decides  the  destiny  of  the 
deathless  soul  forever.  And  it  can  be  decided 
aright  only  by  giving  up  your  soul  to  Jesus 
Christ. 

Do  that  at  once  I  beseech  you.  The  Spirit  of 
God  may  now  be  striving  with  you.  The  Saviour 
of  sinners,  with  pierced  hand,  is  holding  open  to 
you  the  door  of  hope.  It  is  a  critical  moment 
with  you, 

"  For  there  is  a  time  we  know  not  when, 
A  point  we  know  not  where, 
That  marks  the  destiny  of  men 
To  glory  or  despair." 

Make  this  critical  hour  the  hour  of  your  soul's 
salvation.  And  when,  by  the  grace  of  God,  you 
have  done  that,  you  may  say  of  the  day  of  your 
conversion,  as  was  said  of  Joshua's  victory  at 
Gibeon,  "  There  w^as  no  day  like  that  before  it  or 
after  it,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  the  voice 
of  a  man."  Thanks  be  unto  Him  who  giveth  us 
the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


IV 
THE   LITTLE   COAT 


IV 

THE  LITTLE  COAT 

*♦  His  mother  made  him  a  little  coat,  and  brought  it  to  him 
from  year  to  year." — I.  Sam.  ii.  19. 

You  may  smile  at  this  text.  Well,  it  is  but  a 
little  text,  about  a  little  garment  that  turned  to 
dust  many  hundred  years  ago.  We  cannot  al- 
ways be  discussing  the  great  central  and  com- 
manding themes,  such  as  the  Divine  attributes, 
redemption,  regeneration,  immortality,  and  the 
judgment  to  come.  Life  is  largely  made  up  of 
small  things,  and  the  small  things  are  often  very 
great  in  their  influence  upon  character  and  des- 
tiny. This  little  text  about  a  lad's  "  wee "  coat 
has  a  connection  with  some  of  the  most  vital 
concerns  of  life,  and  is  suggestive  of  many  im- 
portant truths — especially  for  parents. 

In  a  parent's  eye  there  is  no  greater  personage 
in  this  world  than  a  little  child.  As  the  least  of 
the  planets  floats  nearest  to  the  sun,  so  the  baby 
of  the  household  gets  the  central  place  in  the 
home  and  the  warm  chimney  corner  in  the  heart. 

61 


62  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

What  a  marvel  of  beauty — nothing  short  of  a 
miracle — is  a  first-born  child !  With  what  a  glow 
of  honest  pride  has  many  a  young  mother  made 
for  her  infant  treasure  the  tiny  garment  in  which 
it  was  to  be  presented  to  the  Lord,  in  the  beauti- 
ful rite  of  baptism  !  And  in  many  a  home  there 
is  carefully  packed  away — as  above  all  price — the 
little  white  dress  in  which  was  baptized  the  dar- 
Hng  one  whom  Jesus  took  home  long  ago. 

There  is  a  sweet  touch  of  nature  in  the  passage 
which  I  have  chosen  to-day.  Away  back  in 
those  distant  lands  and  ages  there  was  a  young 
wife,  whom  the  Lord  remembered  and  to  whom 
He  gave  a  son.  How  overflowing  was  her  joy ! 
(For  Hannah  was  not  like  some  heartless  women 
of  our  day  who  regard  children  as  a  burden  and  a 
nuisance,  and  would  rather  risk  child-murder 
than  become  mothers.)  The  grateful  soul  of 
Hannah  broke  forth  in  thanksgiving :  "  For  this 
child  I  prayed ;  and  the  Lord  hath  given  me  my 
petition  which  I  asked  of  Him.  Therefore  also  I 
have  lent  him  to  the  Lord ;  as  long  as  he  liveth 
he  shall  be  lent  to  the  Lord." 

As  soon  as  the  infant  Samuel  was  weaned, 
Hannah  goes  up  to  Shiloh,  the  sacred  city,  to 
perform  the  vow  which  she  had  promised  in  the 
days  of  her  childless  affliction.     With  a   happy 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  63 

heart  she  makes  her  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of 
Jehovah — not  only  presenting  her  beloved  boy  to 
the  Lord  but  also  offering  several  costly  sacrifices. 
God  had  remembered  her  sorrow  and  had  made 
her  weep  for  joy.  He  had  given  her  a  son,  and 
she  consecrates  him  to  the  service  of  the  temple. 
He  could  not  have  been  more  than  three  or  four 
years  old  when  Hannah  placed  him  under  the 
care  of  Eli  the  high  priest,  and  he  found  his  home 
thenceforward  in  the  dwelling  place  of  the  Most 
High. 

Moreover,  his  mother  made  him  a  little  coat 
(or  tunic),  and  brought  it  to  him  from  year  to 
year  when  she  came  up  with  Elkanah  to  offer 
their  annual  sacrifice.  What  sort  of  a  garment 
could  the  little  tunic  have  been  ?  Well,  I  can- 
not satisfy  your  curiosity ;  but  we  may  well  be- 
lieve that  so  sensible  a  mother  as  Hannah  did 
not  degrade  her  child  into  a  doll,  to  be  bedecked 
with  fooHsh  fineries.  It  must  have  been  a  modest 
and  becoming  garment  which  the  godly  mother 
made  each  year  for  the  appareling  of  her  child. 
I  wish  that  I  could  say  as  much  of  the  apparel 
which  thousands  of  Christian  parents  now  load 
upon  the  forms  of  their  children ;  as  if  God  did 
not  make  a  child  beautiful  enough  without  the 
aid   of  elaborate   fineries   and   expensive    uphol- 


64  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

sterings.  I  tell  you  that  this  overdressing  of 
the  body  strikes  through  into  the  mind  and  heart 
— poisoning  the  mind  with  affectation  and  with 
most  unchildlike  greed  of  admiration  and  vain- 
glory. How  can  a  check  ever  be  put  upon  the 
crop  of  fops  and  fashion-worshipers  if  children 
are  trained  into  fopperies  and  fooleries  from 
the  nursery?  How  can  a  child  be  instructed 
to  frugality,  humility,  self-denial,  or  any  sort  of 
spiritual-mindedness  while  its  free  young  graces 
are  smothered  under  the  artificial  trappings  of 
pride  and  extravagance  ?  I  entreat  you,  Chris- 
tian parents,  that  if  you  lend  your  children  to 
the  Lord,  not  to  disfigure  the  sacred  loan  by 
turning  an  immortal  being  into  a  doll.  That  wise 
Hebrew  mother  made  for  her  son  such  a  garment 
as  became  his  station ;  for  Samuel  was  devoted  to 
the  service  of  God,  and  not  to  the  "  lust  of  the 
eye  and  the  pride  of  life." 

Going  now  more  deeply  into  the  spiritual  sug- 
gestions of  our  text,  let  me  remind  you  that 
clothing  has  a  figurative  signification  in  the  word 
of  God.  We  are  exhorted  to  be  clothed  with 
humility,  and  to  keep  our  garments  unspotted 
from  the  world.  Christianity  is  hkened  to  a 
vesture;  and  believers  are  commanded  to  "put 
on  Christ,"  so  that  they  need  not  be  found  naked 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  65 

or  disfigured  with  the  "  filthy  rags  "  of  self-right- 
eousness. As  our  dress  is  the  part  of  us  most 
visible  to  everybody,  so  should  our  Christ-like- 
ness be  visible  at  first  sight  to  all  whom  we  meet. 
This  illustration  of  character  by  clothing  extends 
even  into  the  heavenly  world ;  for  we  are  told 
that  "  whosoever  overcometh  shall  be  clothed  in 
white  raiment,"  and  the  saints  shall  be  attired  in 
robes  that  have  been  washed  to  spotless  purity 
in  the  blood  of  the  atoning  Lamb  of  God. 

Nor  is  it  a  mere  pulpit  pun  that  the  very  word 
"  habit "  is  employed  to  signify  both  the  dress  of 
the  body  and  the  moral  tendency  and  disposition 
of  the  mind.  We  parents  clothe  our  children  in 
both  senses  of  the  word.  We  provide  the  rai- 
ment for  their  bodies,  and,  in  no  small  degree, 
we  provide  the  habits  of  their  thought  and  con- 
duct. We  make  for  them  coats  that  will  last — 
which  no  moth  can  eat  nor  time  deface — coats 
which  they  may  never  outgrow  as  long  as  life 
endures. 

Mothers,  the  Creator  puts  into  your  hands 
an  unclothed  spirit  as  well  as  an  unclothed 
body.  You  make  a  garment  for  the  one ; 
and  in  many  a  home  there  is  hardly  a  rest 
for  your  busy  needles  through  all  the  year. 
But  shall  the  mind— the  immortal  spirit— be  left 
S 


66  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

naked,  or  be  compelled  to  pick  up  at  random  its 
habits  of  thinking  and  acting  ?  This  were  impos- 
sible. Our  children  will  put  on  our  ways  and  our 
habits  in  spite  of  us.  Our  character  streams  into 
our  children,  entering  through  their  eyes  and 
ears  and  every  faculty  of  observation.  What 
they  see  us  do,  they  will  do ;  what  they  hear 
from  us  lodges  in  their  memory,  and,  like  seed 
dropped  from  a  parent  stock,  will  come  up  in 
their  conduct,  for  good  or  evil.  We  are  forming 
their  habits ;  and,  in  the  primary  school  of  home, 
we  are  educating  them  every  hour.  Upon  their 
plastic,  susceptible  minds  we  are  printing  con- 
stantly the  impressions  which  come  out  in  char- 
acter. No  photographic  plate  is  so  sensitive  to 
the  images  which  lodge  upon  it  as  are  the  recep- 
tive minds  of  our  children  to  whatever  they  are 
seeing  or  hearing.  The  sagacious  Dr.  Bushnell 
has  happily  said  that  "every  sentiment  which 
looks  into  the  little  eyes  looks  back  out  of  the 
eyes,  and  plays  in  miniature  on  the  countenance. 
The  tear  that  steals  down  a  mother's  cheek 
gathers  the  little  face  into  a  responsive  sadness. 
A  fright  in  the  mother's  face  will  frighten  the 
child.  Our  irritations  irritate  them ;  our  dissimu- 
lations make  them  tricky  and  deceitful." 

If  a   boy  is  handled   harshly,  is  thumped  or 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  6^ 

jerked  into  obedience,  he  will  probably  turn  out  a 
sulky,  obstinate,  and  irritable  creature — just  what 
our  impetuous  impatience  made  him.  If  malicious 
gossip  or  scandal  sour  our  talk  at  the  table  or 
fireside,  our  children's  "teeth  will  be  set  on 
edge."  Give  your  boy  a  dollar  for  the  toyshop 
or  the  place  of  amusement,  and  only  a  dime  for 
the  Lord's  contribution  box,  and  you  will  teach 
him  that  self-indulgence  is  ten  times  more  impor- 
tant than  charity.  If  we  live  for  the  world,  it  is 
very  likely  that  our  children  may  die  of  the 
world.  If  we  set  our  affections  on  things  above, 
and  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  for  ourselves 
and  for  them,  we  may  reasonably  hope  to  win 
them  into  the  upward  pathway  we  are  treading. 
And  thus,  my  fellow-parents,  are  we  making 
"  little  coats  "  for  the  younger  children,  and  the 
larger  coats  for  the  older  ones,  all  the  while. 
When  they  go  away  from  home  they  will  wear 
the  habits  which  we  put  upon  them.  We  really 
send  ourselves  to  the  boarding  school  or  the 
college  in  the  bearing  and  breeding  which  our 
sons  and  daughters  carry  thither.  Our  older 
children  are  wearing  now  the  coats  of  character 
which  we  cut  out  for  them  ten  or  twenty  years 
ago.  How  do  we  Hke  their  dress?  Is  it  after 
the  good  Bible  pattern  ?     Mr.  A.  used  to  think  it 


68  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

a  genteel  and  hospitable  practice  to  set  the  de- 
canter on  his  table ;  and  his  sons  learned  to  love 
the  wine  too  well.  They  have  practiced  on  these 
home  lessons  until  their  *'  redness  of  eyes  "  and 
thickness  of  tongue  prove  their  too  great  famili- 
arity with  the  bottle.  How  does  he  like  the  coat 
they  wear  ? 

Brother  B.  thought  that,  after  all,  the  theater 
was  not  so  perilous  a  place  as  his  pastor  or  other 
Puritanic  people  had  pictured  it.  So  instead  of 
providing  unexceptionable  recreations  for  his  chil- 
dren he  gave  them  carte  blanche  for  the  playhouse, 
with  all  its  lascivious  attractions  and  salacious  se- 
ductions. Some  of  them  have  gone  too  often  for 
their  purity  of  heart  or  peace  of  conscience.  Can 
he  now  pull  off  the  "  habit "  which  he  permitted 
or  encouraged  them  to  put  on  ?  Mrs.  C.  insisted 
that  the  assembly  room  was  the  best  place  to 
acquire  gracefulness  of  carriage  and  elegance  of 
deportment.  Her  daughters  learned  everything 
that  the  ballroom  teaches — even  to  that  style 
of  dance  that  is  "  the  last  sigh  of  expiring  mod- 
esty." As  she  looks  now  upon  their  gay  apparel 
of  fashion  and  frivolity,  so  different  from  the 
"ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  her 
motherly  eyes  are  sometimes  moistened  at  the 
sight. 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  69 

Here  is  a  father  who  spends  his  Sabbath  over 
his  cigar,  his  Sunday  morning  newspaper,  and  his 
business  letters.  His  sons  put  on  the  coat  and 
wear  it  to  their  soul's  peril ;  they  are  not  likely 
to  lay  it  aside  unless  the  grace  of  God  shall  open 
their  eyes  to  the  solemn  fact  that  to  lose  the 
Sabbath  is  to  lose  the  soul.  In  one  family  the 
prevailing  topic  is  "  money — money  "  ;  in  another 
dress  and  parade ;  in  another  sporting ;  in  another 
music  and  fine  art ;  in  another  the  tone  of  daily 
conversation  is  toward  the  best  things  worth 
living  for ;  and  the  pattern  which  the  parents  set 
the  children  copy.  How  will  all  these  "  habits  " 
of  thought  and  conduct  look  when  they  are  sub- 
jected to  the  test  of  experience  and  the  searching 
light  of  the  day  of  judgment?  Ah,  these  mind- 
garments,  which  beautify  and  adorn,  or  else  dis- 
figure and  deprave,  are  very  apt  to  last  for  a  life- 
time; they  will  be  worn  by  our  offspring  long 
after  many  of  us  have  turned  to  dust.  They  will 
be  garments  of  light  and  loveliness,  or  else  of 
shame  and  sorrow. 

Do  not  imagine,  therefore,  that  the  "  little 
coat "  is  worthy  of  only  slight  attention.  The 
sum  of  life  is  made  up  of  little  things.  They 
determine  character  and  often  decide  destiny. 
As  the  peasant's  coarse  frock  and  the  monarch's 


^o  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

robe  are  both  made  up  of  many  small  threads 
woven  together,  so  is  the  garment  of  character 
woven  out  of  the  innumerable  thoughts  and 
words  and  deeds  of  each  person's  daily  existence. 
It  is  in  the  little  things  that  Bible  piety  makes 
itself  most  winsome  ;  and  the  mischief  wrought 
by  inconsistent  Christians  arises  from  the  indul- 
gence of  petty  sins  that  are  as  destructive  as 
moths  upon  the  garment.  Dr.  McLaren  pithily 
says  that  "  white  ants  pick  a  carcass  clean  sooner 
than  a  lion  will."  I  fear  that  you  and  I  are  often 
great  sinners  in  little  things.  The  little  mean- 
nesses of  word  and  look,  the  irritations  of  tem- 
per, the  small  duplicities  of  speech,  the  "  white 
lies "  that  are  only  whitewashed,  the  small  af- 
fronts and  petty  spites,  the  thoughtless  neglect 
of  other  people's  welfare,  and  the  paltry  ex- 
cuses by  which  we  strive  to  excuse  ourselves 
from  painful  duty — all  these  make  up  an  awful 
aggregate  of  sin.  A  snowflake  is  a  tiny  thing, 
that  might  melt  in  an  infant's  hand.  But  enough 
of  these  may  be  heaped  up  by  a  blizzard  on  a 
railway  track  to  stall  the  most  powerful  engine 
and  its  train.  So  is  it  the  aggregate  amount 
of  inconsistent  acts  and  neglects  of  duty  that 
impair  the  influence  of  the  individual  Christian ; 
they  may  accumulate  into  snow  banks  that  block 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  71 

up  revivals  and  bring  a  whole  church  to  a  stand- 
still. No  sin  is  a  trifle;  no  sin  can  be  safely 
allowed  to  get  headway.  "  Let  that  worm  alone 
and  it  will  kill  your  tree,"  was  said  once  to  a 
gardener  in  a  nobleman's  park.  Sure  enough ; 
the  gardener  neglected  the  little  borer,  and  the 
next  year's  yellow  leaves  showed  the  slow  assas- 
sination of  the  tree. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  sum  total  of  daily 
good  deeds  that  make  up  the  "beauty  of  holi- 
ness." The  richest  crops  of  grace  spring  from 
tiny  seeds — especially  when  they  have  been 
watered  by  prayer. 

Let  no  one  despise  the  day  of  small  things. 
The  noblest  Christian  lives  often  have  their  origin 
in  some  faithful  word  spoken  in  love,  or  in  the 
reading  of  a  tract,  or  in  some  small  occurrence, 
or  in  a  single  resolution  to  break  with  some  be- 
setting sin.  One  sentence  seems  to  have  brought 
the  ardent  Peter  and  the  beloved  John  to  their 
decision  of  discipleship.  One  sentence  converted 
the  jailer  of  Philippi.  The  outcome  of  those  few 
words  has  been  felt  in  the  spiritual  histor}^  of 
thousands  of  others  since  that  day.  Paul  little 
knew  how  many  souls,  in  all  time,  he  was  ad- 
dressing when  he  said  to  the  frighten ec}  jailer, 
"  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt 


72  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

be  saved."  In  fact,  nobody  ever  knows  how 
much  good  he  is  doing  when  he  does  just  one 
good  thing. 

A  word  of  praise  from  his  mother  made  Ben- 
jamin West  a  painter  and  president  of  the  Royal 
Academy.  A  kind  sentence  or  two  of  commen- 
dation, bestowed  in  a  short  talk  in  a  prayer 
meeting,  led  me  to  enter  the  sacred  ministry. 
From  that  incident  I  learned  never  to  underrate 
the  influence  of  a  few  words  spoken  at  a  critical 
moment. 

A  godly  wife  told  her  husband  that  she  "  trem- 
bled for  him  " ;  and  that  single  sentence  spoken  in 
love  sent  him  trembling  to  the  cross.  Dr.  Pay- 
son,  of  Portland,  once  asked  a  group  of  young 
men  to  let  him  read  to  them  a  hymn ;  and  when 
it  was  ended  they  were  all  in  tears.  The  Divine 
Spirit  was  in  that  tender  voice.  Harlan  Page, 
reared  like  his  Master  to  the  humble  trade  of  a 
carpenter,  became  a  marvelously  successful  winner 
of  souls  to  Christ  by  uttering  a  few  "words  in 
season  "  with  an  emphasis  of  love  that  penetrated 
to  the  core. 

That  noble  Boanerges  of  the  western  New 
York  pulpit.  Dr.  Wisner,  of  Ithaca,  said  that  he 
stopped,  on  a  hot  summer  day,  at  a  farmhouse 
for   a    glass    of  water.      The    farmer's    daughter 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  73 

handed  him  the  refreshing  draught,  and  he  re- 
paid her  by  a  kind,  tender  word  about  Jesus  as 
the  water  of  Hfe.  Several  years  afterwards  a 
middle-aged  woman  recognized  him  on  the  deck 
of  a  steamboat,  and  thanked  him  for  the  few 
plain,  faithful  words  which  led  her  to  Christ.  It 
is  a  sin  and  a  shame  that  we  Christians  let  slip 
so  many  opportunities  to  drop  a  word  of  truth 
through  an  open  ear  into  an  open  soul.  Grant 
that  many  a  truth  thus  dropped  has  not  sprouted ; 
neither  has  every  sermon  preached  been  the 
means  of  converting  a  soul.  But  the  awakening 
power  of  a  discourse  has  often  lain  in  a  single 
point  pressed  home.  It  is  the  tip  of  the  arrow 
that  penetrates  the  "joints  of  the  harness." 

The  great  lesson  in  the  saving  of  souls  is  never 
to  "  despise  the  day  of  small  things,"  never  to 
lose  an  opportunity,  and  never  to  underrate  the 
power  of  a  single  truth  spoken  in  love.  Revivals 
in  a  church  commonly  start  in  one  or  two  hearts. 
The  first  revival  in  the  little  church  in  which 
my  own  early  ministry  was  spent  began  in  the 
heart  of  a  little  girl.  Her  few  words  awakened 
one  woman,  and  that  woman  came  at  once  to  me, 
and  proposed  special  meetings ;  they  were  worth 
more  to  me  than  any  year  in  a  theological  semi- 
nary. 


74  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

I  might  multiply  these  illustrations  of  the 
greatness  of  the  littles ;  for  nothing  is  small  that 
has  God's  Spirit  in  it  and  working  through  it. 
In  conclusion,  I  would  impress  once  more  upon 
the  hearts  of  all  parents  the  prodigious  impor- 
tance of  all  those  numberless  words  and  deeds 
by  which  they  weave  those  garments  of  character 
that  shall  be  worn  long  after  they  are  in  their 
silent  sepulchers.  No  office  is  comparable  to 
that  of  parentage;  no  trust  is  so  sacred  as  that 
of  an  immortal  spirit  in  the  plastic  period  of 
childhood.  When  the  Creator  lays  a  newborn 
babe  in  the  arms  of  its  parents,  He  says  to  them, 
"  Take  this  child  and  nurse  it  for  Me  and  I  will 
give  thee  thy  wages."  The  answer  of  gratitude 
and  faith  ought  to  be :  O  God,  Thou  hast  put 
Thy  noblest  work  into  our  hands.  We  accept  the 
precious  trust.  We  will  shelter  this  young  life 
under  Thy  mercy  seat.  We  will  nurse  this  soul 
in  its  infancy  with  the  sincere  milk  of  truth,  that 
in  after  years  it  may  bear  strong  meat,  for  strong 
service  of  God  and  righteousness.  Help  us  to 
order  our  own  lives  in  harmony  with  Thee,  so 
that  this  young  life  may  reflect  Thine  image  in 
reflecting  ours ! 

To  such  conscientious  fidelity  God  offers  the 
only  wages   that  can   satisfy  the   claims  of  love. 


THE  LITTLE  COAT  75 

He  pays  the  heart's  claim  in  the  heart's  own  coin. 
Faithful,  painstaking,  prayerful  Hannah  found  her 
rich  reward  in  the  sight  of  Samuel's  after-career 
as  Israel's  upright  judge.  Timothy's  "  little  coat  " 
outlasted  his  mother  Eunice.  The  mother  of  the 
Wesleys  was  repaid  for  all  her  patient,  loving 
discipline  when  her  sons  reared  the  world-wide 
tabernacle  for  Methodism.  God  never  breaks 
His  covenant  with  those  who  fulfill  their  cove- 
nants to  Him. 

Fathers,  mothers,  we  are  weaving  the  habits  of 
our  children  every  hour!  We  do  it,  as  clothes 
are  fashioned,  stitch  by  stitch ;  and  most  of  all 
by  the  unconscious  influence  of  example.  The 
estate  which  we  can  bequeath  to  them  may  be 
small.  We  may  not  all  be  able  to  afford  them 
the  costly  education  of  great  schools  or  universi- 
ties. But  day  by  day  we  can  be  patiently  weav- 
ing for  them  that  garment  of  godliness  that,  by 
Divine  grace,  shall  grow  brighter  and  fairer  until 
they  shall  walk  in  shining  apparel  before  the 
throne  of  God. 


V 
THE  JOURNEY   OF   A  DAY 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY 

"I    pray   Thee,  send  me   good   speed   this   day." — Genesis 
xxiv,  12. 

In  those  early  patriarchal  times  God  and  His 
people  seemed  to  live  very  near  together  and  to 
hold  very  close  personal  intercourse.  Their  faith 
was  as  simple  as  their  style  of  living.  Abraham 
often  conversed  with  God  as  one  of  our  children 
converses  with  father  or  mother,  on  terms  of  filial 
and  yet  familiar  affection.  Eliezer,  the  steward 
of  Abraham,  addresses  Jehovah  in  the  same 
direct,  though  reverent  manner. 

The  story  from  which  our  text  is  taken  gives 
us  a  charming  picture  of  the  pastoral  life  of  the 
Orient  in  those  early  times.  Abraham  sends 
EHezer,  the  "eldest  servant  of  his  house,"  to 
Mesopotamia  on  a  search  for  a  wife  for  his  son 
Isaac.  Eliezer  sets  off  with  his  caravan  of 
camels,  and  soon  reaches  the  city  of  Nahor,  near 
which  resides  Bethuel,  who  was  a  kinsman  of 
Abraham.     The  caravan   halts  beside  a  well  in 

79 


8o  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

the  vicinity  of  the  town.  With  straightforward 
directness  Eliezer  offers  up  this  prayer :  "  O  Lord 
God  of  my  master  Abraham,  I  pray  Thee,  send 
me  good  speed  this  day,  and  show  kindness  unto 
my  master  Abraham.  Behold,  I  stand  here  by  the 
well  of  water ;  and  the  daughters  of  the  men  of 
the  city  come  out  to  draw  water.  And  let  it 
come  to  pass,  that  the  damsel  to  whom  I  shall  say, 
Let  down  thy  pitcher,  I  pray  thee,  that  I  may 
drink ;  and  she  shall  say.  Drink,  and  I  will  give 
thy  camels  drink  also  :  let  the  same  be  she  that 
Thou  hast  appointed  for  Thy  servant  Isaac ;  and 
thereby  shall  I  know  that  Thou  hast  showed 
kindness  unto  my  master."  The  speedy  appear- 
ance of  the  beautiful  Rebekah,  with  her  pitcher 
upon  her  shoulder,  attested  the  answer  which 
Eliezer  sought  for  his  petition. 

It  is  not  my  custom  to  use  passages  of  Holy 
Writ  as  mottoes  for  my  discourses ;  but  I  shall 
do  so  on  this  occasion.  My  theme  is  The  Journey 
of  a  Day,  and  how,  by  God's  blessing,  to  make 
good  speed  upward  and  heavenward  through 
every  hour.  Life  is  frequently  presented  as  a 
journey  or  a  pilgrimage;  and  John  Bunyan  was 
only  following  the  line  of  scriptural  suggestion 
when  he  conceived  the  plan  of  his  immortal  alle- 
gory.    The  actual  journey  of  human  life  is  sub- 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  8i 

divided  into  several  stages.  Of  these  a  day  is 
the  most  visible  and  definite,  for  it  is  measured 
by  the  motion  of  our  globe  on  its  axis.  A 
person  of  the  average  age  (thirty  years)  sees 
about  eleven  thousand  days;  a  veteran  of  four 
score  sees  about  thirty  thousand.  In  ordinary 
phrase  we  apply  the  word  "  day  "  to  those  hours 
of  the  twenty-four  which  are  marked  by  sunlight. 
The  period  we  call  "  night "  is  the  bivouac  after 
the  march ;  and  the  hours  of  sleep  are  the  blank 
leaves  in  the  diary  of  life. 

After  a  few  hours  of  unconscious  slumber  the 
rosy  finger  of  the  morning  touches  us  as  the  Divine 
Restorer  touched  the  motionless  form  of  Jairus' 
daughter,  and  saith  to  us,  Arise !  In  an  instant 
the  wheels  of  conscious  activity  are  set  in  motion, 
and  we  leap  up  from  that  temporary  tomb,  our 
bed.  Was  yesterday  a  sick  day?  Sleep,  like  a 
good  doctor,  may  have  made  us  well.  Was  yes- 
terday a  sad  day  ?  Sleep  has  kindly  soothed  the 
agitated  nerves.  Was  it  (like  too  many  of  its 
predecessors)  a  lost  day  ?  Then  our  merciful 
Father  puts  us  on  a  new  probation,  and  gives  us 
a  chance  to  save  this  newborn  day  for  Him  and 
for  His  holy  purposes  of  our  existence. 

Do  we  lose  the  morning  either  by  oversleep 
or  indolence  or  aimlessness  ?  Then  we  '  com- 
6 


82  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

monly  lose  the  day.  One  hour  of  the  morning 
is  worth  two  or  three  at  the  sunsetting.  The 
best  hours  for  study,  for  invention,  or  for  labor 
are  the  first  hours  after  mind  and  body  have  their 
resurrection  from  the  couch  of  slumber.  Napo- 
leon, who  made  time  a  great  factor  in  all  his  suc- 
cesses, seized  the  early  dawn.  The  master  of 
modern  fiction  wrote  nearly  all  his  "  Waverley " 
romances  while  his  guests  were  sleeping.  The 
numerous  commentaries  of  good  Albert  Barnes 
are  monuments  to  early  rising ;  they  attest  how 
much  a  man  may  accomplish  who  gets  at  his 
work  by  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  To  the 
student,  the  artist,  the  merchant,  the  manual 
laborer,  the  most  useful  hours  are  reached  before 
the  sun  climbs  to  the  meridian.  I  am  well  aware 
that  a  vast  deal  of  traditional  nonsense  has  come 
down  to  us  about  the  "  midnight  lamp."  But 
those  who  use  the  midnight  lamp,  for  either 
mental  toil  or  sensual  dissipations,  are  very  apt 
to  burn  their  own  lamp  of  life  out  the  soonest. 
Make  it  a  rule,  then,  that  he  who  would  begin 
the  day  aright  must  seize  and  save  its  earliest 
hours.  How  often  do  we  see  some  poor  dilatory 
fellow  rushing  in  blundering  haste  through  the 
whole  day  in  vain  pursuit  after  the  time  he  lost  in 
the  morning ! 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  83 

Every  day  should  be  commenced  with  God 
and  upon  the  knees.  "  In  the  morning  will  I 
direct  my  prayer  unto  Thee,  and  will  look  up," 
said  the  man  after  God's  own  heart.  He  begins 
the  day  unwisely  who  leaves  his  chamber  without 
a  secret  conference  with  his  heavenly  Friend. 
The  true  Christian  goes  to  his  closet  both  for  his 
panoply  and  his  "  rations "  for  the  day's  march 
and  its  inevitable  conflicts.  As  the  Oriental 
traveler  sets  out  for  the  sultry  journey  by  loading 
up  his  camel  under  the  palm  tree's  shade,  and  by 
filling  his  flagons  from  the  cool  fountain  that 
sparkles  at  its  roots,  so  doth  God's  wayfarer  draw 
his  fresh  supplies  from  the  unexhausted  spring. 
Morning  is  the  golden  time  for  devotion.  The 
mercies  of  the  night  provoke  to  thankfulness. 
The  buoyant  heart,  that  is  in  love  with  God, 
makes  its  earliest  flight — like  the  lark — toward 
the  gates  of  heaven.  Gratitude,  faith,  dependent 
trust,  all  prompt  to  early  interviews  with  Him, 
who,  never  slumbering  Himself,  awaits  on  His 
throne  for  our  morning  orisons.  We  all  re- 
member Bunyan's  beautiful  description  of  his 
Pilgrim's  lodging  over  night  in  the  "  Chamber  of 
Peace"  which  looked  toward  the  sunrising,  and 
at  daybreak  he  "awoke  and  sang."  If  stony 
Egyptian  "  Memnon  "  made  music  when  the  first 


84  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

rays  kindled  on  his  flinty  brow,  a  devout  heart 
should  not  be  mute  when  God  causes  the  out- 
goings of  his  mornings  to  rejoice. 

No  pressure  of  business  or  household  duties 
should  crowd  out  prayer.  An  eminent  Chris- 
tian merchant  told  me  that  it  was  his  rule  to 
secure  a  good  quiet  half-hour  in  his  chamber  on 
his  knees  and  over  his  Bible  before  he  met  his 
family;  and  then  he  went  into  his  business — as 
Moses  came  down  from  the  mount — with  his 
face  shining.  Doctor  Arnold,  of  Rugby,  had  a 
favorite  morning  hymn,  which  opens  with  these 
stirring  lines : — 

"  Come,  my  soul,  thou  must  be  waking  ; 
Now  is  breaking 

O'er  the  earth  another  day. 
Come  to  Him  who  made  this  splendor  ; 
See  thou  render 

All  thy  feeble  powers  can  pay." 

Closet  devotions  are  the  fit  precursor  to  house- 
hold worship.  Family  religion  underlies  the 
commonweath  and  the  church.  No  Christian 
government,  no  healthy  public  conscience,  no 
Bible  philanthropies,  no  wholesome  church  life 
can  exist  without  being  rooted  beneath  the 
hearthstone  and  the  family  altar.  The  glory  and 
defense  of  dear  old  Scotland  are  found  in  those 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  85 

scenes  of  ingle-sidc  worship  which  Burns  has  so 
finely  pictured : — 

"From  scenes  like  these  old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs, 
That  makes  her  loved  at  home,  revered  abroad." 

No  prelude  to  the  day  is  so  fitting,  so  impress- 
ive, and  so  potent  in  its  influence  as  the  union 
of  household  hearts  round  the  throne  of  grace. 
Family  worship  is  a  strong  seam  well  stitched  on 
the  border  of  the  day,  to  keep  it  from  raveling 
out  into  indolence  and  irreligion.  Wise  is  that 
Christian  parent  who  hems  every  morning  with 
the  word  of  God  and  fervent  prayer. 

When  the  early  devotions  of  the  day  are  over, 
then  let  us  shoulder  up  its  load  cheerfully.  The 
happiness  and  the  serenity  of  the  whole  day  de- 
pend very  much  upon  a  cheerful  start.  The  man 
who  leaves  his  home  with  a  scowl  on  his  brow, 
with  a  snap  at  his  children,  and  a  tart  speech  to 
his  wife,  is  not  likely  to  be  a  very  pleasant  com- 
panion for  anyone,  or  to  return  home  at  night 
less  acid  than  a  vinegar  cruet.  We  never  know 
what  the  day  may  bring  forth,  or  when  we  shall 
leave  our  threshold  for  the  last  time,  or  hear  the 
last  "  good  morning."  Let  us,  therefore,  set  out 
on  the  day's  journey  under  the  wing  of  God's 
loving  care,  and  committing  our  way  unto  Him. 


86  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

The  steps  of  a  good  man  are  ordered  by  the 
Lord.  Eliezer  described  his  happy  and  success- 
ful day's  journey  by  saying  at  its  close,  "  I  being 
in  the  way,  the  Lord  led  me  to  the  house  of  my 
master's  brethren."  When  you  and  I  are  in  the 
path  of  duty,  and  have  sought  the  Divine  direc- 
tion, we  may  feel  sure  that  the  Lord  always  will 
lead  us  likewise. 

In  order  to  make  "  good  speed  "  in  your  day's 
journey,  do  not  go  overloaded.  I  do  not  refer  so 
much  to  your  undertaking  too  many  things  as  to 
your  carrying  too  many  cares.  Honest  work  is 
strengthening;  but  worry  frets  and  fevers  us. 
The  temptation  to  worry  should  be  resisted  as 
a  temptation  of  the  devil ;  to  yield  to  it  is  a  sin 
against  our  own  peace,  and  a  reproach  upon 
our  Christian  character.  The  journey  made  by 
any  pedestrian  is  simply  a  succession  of  steps. 
In  accomplishing  your  day's  work  you  have 
simply  to  take  one  step  at  a  time.  To  take  that 
step  wisely  is  all  that  you  need  to  think  about. 
If  I  am  climbing  a  mountain,  to  look  down  may 
make  me  dizzy ;  to  look  too  far  up  may  make  me 
tired  and  discouraged.  Take  no  anxious  thought 
for  the  morrow.  Sufficient  for  the  day — ^yes,  and 
for  each  hour  in  the  day — is  the  toil  or  the  trial 
thereof.     There   is   not   a   child   of  God  in  this 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  87 

world  who  is  strong  enough  to  stand  the  strain 
of  to-day's  duties  and  all  the  load  of  to-morrow's 
anxieties  piled  upon  the  top  of  them.  Paul  him- 
self would  have  broken  down  if  he  had  attempted 
the  experiment.  We  have  a  perfect  right  to  ask 
our  heavenly  Father  for  strength  equal  to  the 
day ;  but  we  have  no  right  to  ask  Him  for  one 
extra  ounce  of  strength  for  anything  beyond  it. 
When  the  morrow  comes,  grace  will  come  with 
it  sufficient  for  its  tasks  or  for  its  troubles. 

**  Let  me  be  strong  in  word  and  deed 
Just  for  to-day ; 
Lord  !  for  to-morrow  and  its  need 
I  must  not  pray." 

The  journey  of  each  day — yes,  and  of  every 
day  until  we  reach  the  Father's  house — is  a  walk 
of  faith.  We  are  often  perplexed,  and  in  our 
short-sighted  ignorance  we  cry  out :  "  Lord,  how 
can  we  know  the  way?"  The  answer  comes 
back  to  us :  "I  will  lead  the  blind  in  paths  that 
they  have  not  known ;  I  will  make  the  darkness 
light  before  them."  When  Eliezer  humbly  asked 
God  to  guide  him,  he  made  "  good  speed "  in- 
deed ;  he  was  directed  to  the  very  place  and  to 
the  very  person  that  he  was  in  quest  of.  His 
master  Abraham  before  him  had  made  the  jour- 


88  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

ney  from  the  land  of  the  Chaldees  to  the  land  of 
Canaan  entirely  by  faith ;  for  he  "  went  out,  not 
knowing  whither  he  went."  He  had  no  maps 
and  no  itinerary;  yet  one  thing  he  was  sure  of: 
he  knew  that  God  was  his  guide,  and  that  he  was 
heaven-bound.  Every  Christian  should  be  a  close 
and  attentive  observer  of  providential  leadings. 
A  conflict  often  arises  between  choosing  our  own 
way — that  "jumps  with  our  own  selfish  inclina- 
tion " — or  walking  in  God's  way.  Lot  chose  his 
own  way,  and  it  led  him  into  Sodom.  When  he 
obeyed  God's  directions  they  led  him  in  safety  to 
Zoar.  Jonah  chose  his  own  way,  and  it  sent  him 
overboard  into  the  raging  sea;  then  he  took 
God's  way,  and  it  brought  him  to  Nineveh  on  a 
mission  of  mercy. 

Whatever  perplexities  may  arise  as  to  the 
meanings  of  the  Divine  providences,  or  however 
fallible  may  be  our  own  judgments,  yet  of  one 
thing  we  may  feel  perfectly  sure:  God  has  given 
us  a  guidebook  for  every  day's  journey  that  is 
both  divinely  inspired  and  perfectly  infallible. 
"  This  is  the  Book,"  as  Coleridge  said  of  it,  "  that 
always  finds  us."  There  is  not  a  difficult  ques- 
tion in  ethics  on  which  this  heaven-lighted  lamp 
does  not  shed  a  clear  light,  and  for  every  step  in 
life  it  has  a  precept  and  a  principle.     The  Bible  is 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  89 

emphatically  a  book  for  everyday  use;  and  the 
healthy  Christian  runs  his  Christianity  through 
all  the  routine  of  his  everyday  experience. 
Some  people  keep  their  religion,  as  they  do  their 
umbrellas,  for  stormy  weather ;  they  may  think  it 
a  convenient  thing  to  have  when  their  physician 
pronounces  a  fatal  verdict,  or  when  death  is  at  the 
door.  Others  reserve  their  piety  for  the  Sabbath 
and  the  sanctuary,  and  on  Monday  fold  it  up  and 
lay  it  away  with  their  Sunday  clothes.  But  every 
day  of  the  week  ought  to  be  a  "  Lord's  day,"  and 
carry  us  twenty-four  hours  nearer  heaven.  A 
healthy  religion  cannot  be  maintained  simply  by 
Sundays,  and  psalms,  and  sacraments;  it  must 
be  fed  both  from  the  "  upper  springs  "  and  the 
"  nether  springs."  Brethren,  let  us  see  to  it  that 
the  higher  regions  of  our  lives  toward  God  are 
not  more  plentifully  watered  than  those  lower 
regions  which  embrace  our  conduct  and  our  con- 
nection with  our  fellow-creatures.  The  lowly 
valleys  in  which  we  meet  our  families,  our  friends, 
and  our  business  associates  ought  to  be  just  as 
verdant  and  well-watered  as  those  Sabbath  eleva- 
tions on  which  we  "  see  no  man  save  Jesus  only." 
In  the  journey  of  each  day  we  cannot^  predict 
what  lies  before  us.  We  know  not  what  the  day 
may  bring  forth — whether  of  joy  or  sorrow.    This 


90  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

is  well;  for  our  joys  are  heightened  when  they 
come  as  glad  surprises,  and  to  forecast  our 
sorrows  would  only  increase  our  sufferings  with- 
out increasing  our  strength  to  bear  them.  Temp- 
tations, however,  owe  much  of  their  peril  and  of 
their  power  to  the  fact  that  they  commonly 
spring  upon  us  unawares.  Satan  is  no  more 
likely  to  advertise  the  time  and  method  of  his 
assaults  in  advance  than  a  burglar  is  to  send  us 
word  that  he  will  be  trying  the  bolts  of  our  front 
doors  at  one  o'clock  to-morrow  morning.  *'  I 
say  unto  you  all.  Watch,''  is  the  command  of  our 
Master.  You  may  remember  how,  during  the 
Civil  War,  the  Union  forces,  flushed  with  victory 
and  a  false  sense  of  security,  were  taking  their 
morning  meal  very  leisurely  at  Cedar  Creek. 
Suddenly  the  Confederates  pounced  upon  them 
and  scattered  them  into  a  rout — which  was  only 
checked  by  the  timely  arrival  of  Sheridan  after 
his  famous  and  romantic  ride  from  Winchester. 
We  are  all  liable  to  have  our  Cedar  Creeks ;  and 
the  times  in  which  we  lay  our  armor  off  or  relax 
our  vigilance,  and  over-estimate  our  own  spiritual 
strength,  are  the  most  disastrous  in  our  life- 
record.  ''  He  that  trusteth  in  his  own  heart  is  a 
fool :  but  whoso  walketh  wisely,  he  shall  be  de- 
livered." 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  91 

There  is  no  journey  of  life  but  has  its  clouded 
days ;  and  there  are  some  days  in  which  our  eyes 
are  so  blinded  with  tears  that  we  find  it  hard  to 
see  our  way  or  even  read  God's  promises.  Those 
days  that  have  a  bright  sunrise  followed  by 
sudden  thunderclaps  and  bursts  of  unlooked-for 
sorrows  are  the  ones  that  test  certain  of  our 
graces  the  most  severely.  Yet  the  law  of  spirit- 
ual eyesight  very  closely  resembles  the  law  of 
physical  optics.  When  we  come  suddenly  out 
of  the  daylight  into  a  room  even  moderately 
darkened  we  can  discern  nothing,  but  the  pupil 
of  our  eye  gradually  enlarges  until  unseen  ob- 
jects become  visible.  Even  so  the  pupil  of  the 
eye  of  faith  has  the  blessed  faculty  of  enlarging 
in  dark  hours  of  bereavement,  so  that  we  dis- 
cover that  our  loving  Father's  hand  is  holding 
the  cup  of  trial,  and  by  and  by  the  gloom  be- 
comes luminous  with  glory.  The  fourteenth 
chapter  of  John  never  falls  with  such  music 
upon  our  ears  as  when  we  catch  its  sweet  strains 
amid  the  pauses  of  some  terrific  storm.  **  Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled :  ye  believe  in  God, 
believe  also  in  Me."  "  I  will  not  leave  you  com- 
fortless." 

What  are  the  happiest  hours  we  spend  in  every 
day  ?     I  will  venture  to  say  that  they  are  those 


92  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

which  see  us  busy  in  doing  good  to  others  and  in 
serving  our  Master.  A  cup  of  cold  water  costs 
only  the  trouble  to  get  it ;  its  refreshing  draught 
may  revive  some  fainting  spirit.  That  is  a  bright 
hour  in  which  we  lift  up  some  poor  fellow- 
traveler  and  set  him  on  his  feet,  A  still  brighter 
one  is  that  in  which  we  lead  him  to  the  Saviour. 
Harlan  Page  made  it  his  rule  never  to  talk  to 
anybody  for  ten  minutes  without  trying  to  do 
him  or  her  some  good.  If  all  our  hearts  were 
more  highly  charged  with  the  Divine  electricity, 
we  should  flash  out  sparks  of  loving-kindness  to 
everyone  with  whom  we  come  in  contact. 

I  very  much  fear  that  most  of  you  see  but  very 
few  days  that  are  really  full  of  joy  in  large  meas- 
ure, pressed  down  and  running  over;  and  whose 
fault  is  it  but  your  own  ?  One  of  the  happiest 
Christians  that  I  know  is  happy  on  a  small  in- 
come and  in  spite  of  some  very  sharp  trials. 
The  secret  of  happiness  is  not  the  size  of  one's 
purse,  or  the  style  of  one's  house,  or  the  number 
of  one's  butterfly  friends ;  the  fountain  of  peace 
and  joy  is  in  the  heart.  If  you  would  only  throw 
open  your  heart's  windows  to  the  sunshine  of 
Christ's  love,  it  would  soon  scatter  the  chilling 
mists,  and  even  turn  tears  into  rainbows.  Some 
professed  Christians  pinch  and  starve  themselves 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  A  DAY  93 

into  walking  skeletons,  and  then  try  to  excuse 
themselves  on  the  plea  of  ill-health  or  "  constitu- 
tional "  ailments.  The  medicines  they  need  are 
from  Christ's  pharmacy.  A  large  draught  of 
Bible  taken  every  morning,  a  throwing  open  of 
the  heart's  windows  to  the  promises  of  the 
Master,  a  few  words  of  honest  prayer,  a  deed  or 
two  of  kindness  to  the  next  person  whom  you 
meet,  will  do  more  to  brighten  your  countenance 
and  help  your  digestion  than  all  the  drugs  of  the 
doctors.  If  you  want  to  get  your  aches  and 
trials  out  of  sight,  hide  them  under  your  mercies. 
Bear  in  mind,  my  friends,  that  your  happiness 
or  your  misery  are  very  much  of  your  own  mak- 
ing. You  cannot  create  spiritual  sunshine  any 
more  than  you  can  create  the  morning  star ;  but 
you  can  put  your  soul  where  Christ  is  shining. 
Begin  every  day  with  God.  Keep  a  clean  con- 
science and  a  good  stock  of  Bible  promises 
within  reach.  Keep  a  strong,  robust  faith  that 
can  draw  honey  out  of  a  rock  and  oil  out  of  the 
flinty  rock.  Never  spend  a  day  without  trying  to 
do  somebody  good ;  and  then,  keeping  step  with 
your  Master,  march  on  toward  home  over  any 
road,  however  rough,  and  against  any  head  winds 
that  blow.  It  will  be  all  sunshine  when  we  get 
to  heaven,  and  '*  there  is  no  night  there !" 


94  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

As  I  close  this  discourse  and  look  over  this 
assembly  I  cannot  but  observe  how  a  day  is  a 
type  of  human  life.  That  little  child  nestling 
beside  its  mother  is  now  in  the  rosy  dawn  of  its 
existence.  Yonder  young  men  and  maidens  are 
still  in  the  morning — under  skies  flushed  with 
hope.  These  men  of  business  and  these  mis- 
tresses of  households  are  in  the  busy  noontide. 
Many  of  you  are  far  on  in  the  afternoon ;  and  on 
some  of  our  heads  the  gray  hairs  bespeak  the 
approaching  sundown.  Be  the  journey  long  or 
short,  may  God  give  you  **  good  speed  "  heaven- 
ward, and  enable  every  one  of  you  to  do  a  round 
day's  work  for  Him !  Marble  and  granite  are 
perishable  monuments,  and  their  inscriptions  may 
be  seldom  read.  Carve  yoicr  names  on  human 
hearts ;  they  alone  are  immortal !  Work  while 
the  day  lasts ;  for  "  the  night  cometh !"  Let  it 
come !  If  Christ  come  with  it,  we  can  listen 
calmly  for  the  sunset  gun. 

"Just  when  Thou  wilt,  Oh,  Master  !  call, 
Or  at  the  noon  or  evening-fall, 
Or  in  the  dark  or  in  the  light, 
Just  when  Thou  wilt ;  it  shall  be  right. 

Just  when  Thou  wilt ;  no  choice  for  me, 
Life  is  a  trust  to  use  for  Thee  ; 
Death  is  the  hushed  and  glorious  tryst 
With  Thee,  my  King,  my  Saviour-Christ !" 


VI 

JESUS   ONLY 


VI 

JESUS  ONLY 
"  They  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  only." — Matthew  xvii.  8. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  over  the 
scene  of  our  Lord's  transfiguration ;  but  to  my 
mind  it  seems  probable  that  it  occurred  upon  one 
of  the  southern  spurs  of  Mount  Hermon,  north 
of  Caesarea  PhiUppi.  The  outlook  from  such  a 
point  would  carry  the  eye  from  Lebanon,  with  its 
diadems  of  glittering  ice,  southward  to  the  silvery 
mirror  of  Gennesareth.  But  it  was  not  that  vision 
of  natural  beauty  that  the  three  disciples  looked 
at  chiefly.  They  saw  Jesus  only.  Two  illustri- 
ous prophets,  Moses  and  Elijah,  had  just  made 
their  miraculous  appearance  on  the  top  of  the 
mount.  But  neither  of  these  mighty  men  ap- 
peared any  longer  to  the  disciples'  view ;  "  they 
saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  onlyT  These  two  words 
are  large  enough  to  suggest  many  a  sermon;  let 
us  gather  up  some  of  their  teachings  to  us  to- 
day. 

7  97 


98  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

I.  In  these  words  we  find  a  clew  to  the  power 
of  the  apostolic  preaching.  That  majestic  figure 
on  the  mount  became  the  central  figure  to  the 
eye  and  the  heart  of  the  apostles.  One  Person 
occupied  their  thoughts ;  one  Person  inspired  all 
their  most  efiective  discourses.  It  was  no  such 
combination  of  philosopher  and  philanthropist 
as  Renan  has  portrayed,  or  Theodore  Parker 
preached;  it  was  the  omnipotent  and  ineffable 
Son  of  God.  They  saw  in  Him  "  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh " ;  they  saw  in  Him  an  infinite  Re- 
deemer, a  Divine  Model  of  Life,  a  constant  In- 
tercessor, a  never-failing  Friend.  When  Peter 
delivered  his  first  sermon  at  Pentecost,  and  when 
John  described  his  sublime  visions  on  the  isle  of 
Patmos,  they  directed  all  eyes  to  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 
Paul  gave  utterance  to  the  heart  of  the  whole 
apostolic  brotherhood  when  he  said,  "  I  deter- 
mined not  to  know  anything  among  you,  save 
Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified."  Has  not  this 
been  the  keynote  to  the  best  sermons  of  the 
best  preachers  ever  since  ?  Is  not  that  the  most 
powerful  sermon  which  is  the  most  luminous 
with  Christ?  Depend  upon  it,  my  fi-iends,  that 
the  pulpit,  the  theological  seminary,  the  Sabbath 
school,  and  the  printed  volume  which  God  owns 


JESUS  ONLY  99 

with  the  richest  success  are  those  which  present 
most  prominently  "  no  man,  save  Jesus  only." 

We  open  our  New  Testament  and  we  discover 
in  its  earliest  pages  a  wonderful  Child.  It  is  a 
childhood  that  savors  not  of  this  world ;  it  has  a 
celestial  flavor  about  it.  At  the  age  of  twelve  the 
Lad  is  astonishing  the  rabbis  in  the  temple  by 
His  questions  and  His  modest,  sagacious  an- 
swers. He  opens  the  secret  of  His  life  when  of 
His  wondering  mother  He  inquires,  "  Wist  ye 
not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business  ?" 
Over  the  next  eighteen  years  there  hangs  a  thin 
veil  through  which  we  rather  dimly  discern  a 
guileless  young  man  toiling  at  the  humble,  honest 
trade  of  a  carpenter;  the  only  record  of  it  is  that 
He  "  increased  in  favor  with  God  and  man."  The 
greatest  of  our  American  Presidents  found  it  to 
his  advantage  that  he  was  cradled  on  the  hard 
rocks  of  poverty,  and  was  reared  among  the 
"plain  people,"  with  whom  he  kept  in  constant 
touch  through  his  whole  grand  career.  With  an 
infinite  wisdom  Jesus  of  Nazareth  chose  to  be 
born  among  the  poor  and  never  aimed  to  rise 
beyond  the  poor.  When,  in  after  years,  some  of 
the  dignitaries  of  church  or  state  offered  Him 
some  attentions,  He  put  on  no  airs  and  made  no 
sycophantic    homage    to   them    in    return.       He 


loo  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

knew  that  He  was  higher  than  the  highest,  yet 
loved  to  stoop  as  low  as  the  lowliest.  When  He 
entered  upon  His  public  ministry  and  received 
the  ordinance  of  baptism,  it  was  preceded  by  no 
repentance  of  sin  or  regeneration  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Neither  of  these  experiences  was  need- 
ful to  a  person  who  "  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile 
found  in  His  mouth." 

The  three  years  of  His  marvelous  ministry  are 
all  condensed  into  the  one  simple,  matchless  line 
— *'  He  went  about  doing  goody  Sorrow  was  the 
appeal  to  which  He  always  opened  His  ear; 
suffering  was  the  surest  passport  to  His  kind 
attention ;  sin  He  infinitely  abhorred,  but  the 
sinner  He  pitied  and  loved  with  an  infinite  com- 
passion. His  simple  purpose  was  to  create  anew 
our  poor  sin-cursed  race,  and  to  lift  that  race  up 
to  God.  As  a  teacher  He  had  an  unique  origi- 
nality :  He  spoke  by  authority,  and  not  as  the 
scribes  or  the  savants.  Untaught  Himself  in  any 
academy  or  university  like  those  of  Athens,  He 
floods  the  world  with  a  knowledge  as  much  more 
profound  than  the  philosophy  of  Socrates  or 
Plato  as  the  Atlantic  is  deeper  than  the  wayside 
pool.  His  telescope  reaches  into  eternity !  Look 
also  at  His  works  of  love,  which  are  really  no 
tasks  to  Him ;  at  His  miracles  of  sight-restoring, 


JESUS  ONLY  loi 

health-recovering  and  death-conquering,  all  of 
which  came  as  easy  to  Him  as  the  lifting  of  His 
finger  and  the  opening  of  His  lips!  What 
manner  of  man  was  this,  that  even  the  winds 
and  the  sea  obeyed  Him?  His  life  is  power 
personified ;  it  is  benevolence  on  foot ;  it  is  holi- 
ness filling  every  spot  He  touches  with  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  celestial  climes. 

See,  too,  how,  without  hardening  Himself 
against  sorrow.  He  takes  the  sorrows  of  others 
into  His  own  bosom.  No  little  annoyances  pro- 
voke Him  to  petty  displays  of  passion;  no  stu- 
pendous agony  shakes  the  constancy  of  the  hand 
that  holds  the  bitter  cup  to  His  own  lips.  As  a 
lamb  He  goeth  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep 
before  its  shearers  is  dumb,  so  He  opens  not  His 
mouth.  He  willingly  consents  to  die  the  "just 
for  the  unjust,"  when  the  latent  power  of  His 
right  arm  might  have  laid  Pilate  and  his  ruffian 
crew  in  stiffened  silence  on  the  pavement  of  their 
judgment  hall.  He  is  willing  to  die  that  a  dy- 
ing world  of  sinners  might  live ;  *'  and  when  He 
hangs  upon  the  cross  a  drooping  flower  of  inno- 
cence," and  the  earth  shudders  with  horror  at  the 
sight  of  such  barbarities,  a  heathen  soldier  can- 
not refuse  the  involuntary  confession,  "  Truly 
this  was  the  Son  of  God." 


I02  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

Did  such  another  being  as  this  ever  tread  our 
old  sinning  and  sobbing  world?  Does  history 
— sacred  or  profane — record  such  a  wonderful 
career  ?  Search  through  all  the  annals  of  human 
kind,  in  all  lands  and  ages,  and  you  will  find  no 
man  that  answers  to  this  description  but  one! 
As  the  three  disciples  saw  Him  lifted  o'er  the 
mount,  His  face  shining  as  the  sun  and  the  rai- 
ment of  His  character  white  as  the  light,  so  has 
the  world  beheld  Him  ever  since ;  in  all  the  uni- 
verse there  has  been  and  there  is  but  one  such 
personage;  it  is  Jesus  only! 

I  have  come  to  preach  this  Jesus  to  you  to- 
day. Before  me  are  many  immortal  souls  who 
have  brought  hither  certain  troubles  and  difficul- 
ties, certain  sorrows  and  spiritual  wants.  They 
have  come  to  inquire :  Who  will  show  me  any 
good  ?  who  will  help  me  ?  Here,  for  instance,  is 
a  person  who  is  not  quite  satisfied  with  himself; 
nay,  he  is  thoroughly  dissatisfied.  If  I  should 
bluntly  tell  him  that  he  is  a  great  sinner  and 
wicked  enough  to  deserve  an  eternal  condem- 
nation, he  might  resent  it  and  throw  back  the 
retort,  "  I  am  as  good  as  you,  sir."  But  in  his 
secret  heart  he  knows  that  he  is  far  from  what 
he  ought  to  be,  and  would  frankly  acknowledge, 
"  I  don't  pretend  to  be  a  religious   man."     He 


JESUS  ONLY  103 

admits  that  he  is  not  prepared  to  die ;  and  some- 
times the  thought  of  dying  in  his  present  condi- 
tion sends  a  shiver  over  him.  To-day  he  is  yet  in 
his  sins,  unforgiven  and  unconverted,  with  a  tre- 
mendous score  running  up  against  him  on  God's 
record-book.  "  How  shall  I  clear  off  that  score 
against  me,  and  make  a  new  departure  into  a 
better  life  ?" — the  old  question,  you  see,  "  What 
shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?" 

If  you  sincerely  wish  to  be  saved,  there  is  a 
way  to  be  saved.  Repentance  of  your  sins,  how- 
ever sincere,  is  not  enough.  Regret  for  sin  in 
the  past  will  not  atone  for  it,  nor  keep  you  from 
sin  in  the  future.  Repentance  is  essential,  is  in- 
dispensable, but  it  is  not  enough  to  save  your 
soul.  It  would  be  like  a  man's  quitting  a  leaky 
boat  at  sea  with  no  better  one  in  sight ;  you  may 
leave  the  swamping  boat  only  to  be  sv/allowed  up 
in  the  deep.  What  you  need  is  a  positive  per- 
sonal work  wrought  for  you  and  wrought  within 
you.  There  is  One  who  can  do  this  work,  and 
one  only.  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world, — if  the  sin  of  the 
world,  then  your  sins.  The  atonement  He  made 
for  your  guilt  on  the  cross  was  perfect  >  He 
obeyed  the  demands  of  God's  broken  law  per- 
fectly ;  He  wrought  out  His  work  of  redemption 


I04  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

perfectly,  and  no  man  need  perish  for  want  of  an 
atonement.  But  in  order  to  receive  your  share 
of  the  benefit  of  that  work  you  are  required  to 
go  directly  to  Jesus  Christ.  Your  Bible  is  valu- 
able to  you  chiefly  as  a  guide  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Prayer  is  availing  to  you  mainly  as  a  means  of 
approaching  God  in  Christ.  If  you  are  thirsty, 
a  cup — whether  of  coarse  pottery  or  chased 
silver — is  of  value  to  you  only  as  the  utensil  for 
bringing  the  water  to  your  parched  lips.  The 
cup  alone  and  empty  would  be  a  mockery.  The 
sincerest  prayer  for  salvation  is  an  empty  cup, 
unless  it  become  a  channel  through  which  shall 
flow  your  confession  and  your  desires  toward 
Christ,  and  pardoning  grace  shall  flow  back  to 
you  from  Christ.  Whoever  would  have  his  sins 
blotted  out  and  a  new  heart  created  in  him,  must 
go  to  Jesus  only.  And  if  the  means  which  he  is 
employing — the  Bible,  the  sermons,  the  prayers, 
or  any  other  means — become  his  chief  reliance, 
then  they  are  a  bane  rather  than  a  blessing. 
There  is  none  who  takes  away  sin  save  Jesus 
only.  There  is  one  way,  and  but  one  way  to  be 
saved,  and  the  sooner  you  reach  it  the  better. 

If  you  should  happen  to  be  at  the  Grand  Cen- 
tral Railway  Station  in  New  York  when  the  Eas- 
tern express  train  is  about   starting,  you  would 


JESUS  ONLY  105 

see  a  certain  number  of  people  entering  the  cars 
that  are  labeled,  "  For  Boston."  The  doors  of 
those  cars  stand  open ;  the  passengers  enter  and 
dispose  themselves  for  the  journey.  They  take 
it  for  granted  that  the  station  master  has  directed 
them  rightly;  and  they  do  not  run  round  in- 
quiring if  those  be  the  right  cars,  or  if  they  are 
safe  and  are  likely  to  keep  to  the  track.  They 
have  made  up  their  minds  to  go  to  Boston,  and 
they  have  faith  enough  in  the  directors  of  the 
company  and  in  its  rolling  stock  to  take  the  pre- 
scribed cars  and  trust  their  lives  there.  "  There 
are  a  million  of  people  in  New  York,"  you  might 
say;  "there  are  only  a  half-dozen  cars  provided." 
Very  true;  but  there  is  room  enough  on  that 
train  for  all  the  people  of  New  York  who  desire 
to  start  for  Boston  at  that  hour  and  by  that  route. 
That  train  carries  those  who  come  to  it  and  no 
others.  If  you  shall  desire  to  reach  Boston  and 
yet  fail  to  come  to  the  station,  or  if  you  fail  to 
procure  the  required  ticket  at  the  station,  it  is  not 
the  fault  of  the  railway  company  that  you  do  not 
get  to  Boston. 

Pray  do  not  think  that  this  illustration  belittles 
our  solemn  theme.  I  simply  aim  to  draw  your 
mind's  eye  to  the  glorious  truth  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  "  opened  a  new  and  living  way "  to  escape 


io6  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

from  the  "  City  of  Destruction "  (as  Bunyan 
phrases  it)  to  the  city  of  God.  Every  vehicle 
that  bears  the  inscription,  "  He  that  beheveth  on 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  everlasting  life,"  is 
the  right  one  for  you  to  take.  **  Is  it  safe  ?" 
Myriads  of  penitent  sinners  have  reached  heaven 
by  that  road ;  try  it !  "  I  am  ashamed  to  con- 
fess that  I  have  not  the  means  to  procure  a 
ticket."  Yes;  but  one  is  offered  to  you  gratu- 
itously if  you  will  accept  it  on  certain  conditions. 
At  infinite  cost  our  loving  Redeemer  has  opened 
this  way,  and  has  provided  the  conveyances.  "  I 
am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life;  whosoever 
cometh  unto  Me,  shall  in  no  wise  be  cast  out." 
You  are  to  come  to  Him  only,  obey  His  direc- 
tions, trust  your  immortal  soul  to  His  keeping, 
and  render  to  Him  your  heart's  service  and  your 
unending  gratitude. 

When  Jesus  Christ  paid  the  ransom  of  your 
soul  He  took  away  its  guilt  and  condemnation. 
When  He  provided  what,  without  irreverence, 
we  may  call  "  the  gospel  train  "  and  opened  wide 
its  doors,  He  took  away  all  your  foolish  and 
wicked  excuses.  When  you  break  away  from 
your  favorite  sins  and  come  to  Him  in  honest 
contrition  and  offer  to  do  His  will,  He  will  take 
away   your   wicked   heart.      And   every   furlong 


JESUS  ONLY  107 

that  you  go  onward  with  Him,  He  will  take  away 
your  doubts  and  lift  off  your  heavy  burden ;  and 
when  you  reach  that  unbridged  river  we  call 
death,  He  will  take  away  your  fears,  and  land 
you  safely  on  the  shining  shore,  and  of  all  the 
countless  multitude  you  will  find  there,  not  one 
but  will  gratefully  acknowledge  that  they  were 
saved  by  Jesus  only. 

Perhaps  one  reason  why  you  are  not  yet  a 
Christian  is  that  you  have  been  mistaken  as  to 
what  you  ought  to  do,  and  just  how  to  do  it. 
Your  experience  may  have  been  similar  to  that 
of  the  woman  to  whom  a  faithful  minister  once 
said : — 

"  Have  you  been  in  the  habit  of  attending 
church  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  have  been  to  every  church  in  town ; 
but  the  little  comfort  I  get  soon  goes  away  again, 
and  leaves  me  as  bad  as  before." 

"  Do  you  read  the  Bible  at  home  ?" 

"  Sir,  I  am  always  reading  the  Bible ;  some- 
times I  get  a  little  comfort,  but  it  soon  leaves  me 
as  wretched  as  ever." 

"  Have  you  prayed  for  peace  ?" 

"Oh,  sir,  I  am  praying  all  the  day  long;  some- 
times I  get  a  little  peace  after  praying,  but  I  soon 
lose  it.     I  am  a  miserable  woman." 


io8  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

"  Now,  madam,  when  you  went  to  church,  or 
prayed,  or  read  your  Bible,  did  you  rely  on  these 
means  to  give  you  comfort  ?" 

"  I  think  I  did." 

"  To  whom  did  you  pray  ?" 

"  To  Gody  sir ;  to  whom  else  should  I  pray  ?" 

"  Now,  read  this  verse,  *  Come  unto  Me  and  I 
will  give  you  rest'  Jesus  said  this.  Have  you 
gone  to  Jesus  for  rest  ?" 

The  lady  looked  amazed,  and  tears  welled  up 
into  her  eyes.  Light  burst  in  upon  her  heart 
like  unto  the  light  that  flooded  Mount  Hermon 
on  the  transfiguration  morn.  Everything  else 
that  she  had  been  looking  at — church,  Bible, 
mercy  seat,  and  minister — all  disappeared,  and 
to  her  wondering,  believing  eyes  there  remained 
no  man,  save  Jesus  only.  She  was  liberated  from 
years  of  bondage  on  the  spot.  The  scales  fell 
from  her  eyes  and  the  spiritual  fetters  from  her 
soul.  Jesus  only  could  do  that  work  of  deliver- 
ance ;  but  He  did  not  do  it  until  she  looked  to 
Him  alone.    . 

This  incident  reached  us  during  the  first  years 
of  my  ministry.  With  this  "  open  secret "  in  my 
hand,  I  approached  the  first  Roman  Catholic 
that  ever  attended  upon  my  preaching.  He  had 
turned  his  troubled  eyes  for  a  long  time  to  the 


JESUS  ONLY  109 

Holy  Virgin  and  to  sainted  martyrs  in  the  cal- 
ender. He  had  been  often  to  a  priest ;  never  to 
a  Saviour.  I  set  before  him  Jcstis  only.  He 
looked  up  and  saw  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.  **  My  Romish 
mother,"  said  he  to  me,  "would  burn  up  my 
Bible  if  she  knew  I  had  one  in  my  house."  But 
she  could  not  burn  out  the  blessed  Jesus  from  his 
emancipated  and  happy  heart. 

Next  I  took  this  simple  revelation  to  a  poor 
invalid  of  three  score  and  ten.  His  sight  was 
failing,  and  the  vision  of  his  mind  was  as  blurred 
and  dim  as  the  vision  of  his  body.  I  set  before 
him,  in  my  poor  way,  Jesus  only.  The  old  man 
could  hardly  see  the  little  grandchild  who  read 
aloud  to  him.  But  he  could  see  Jesus  with  the 
eye  of  faith.  The  patriarch  who  had  hardened 
under  seventy  years  of  sin  became  a  little  child. 
The  skepticism  of  a  lifetime  vanished  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  revealed  to  his  searching,  yearning 
look  the  Divine  form  of  a  Saviour  crucified. 

I  never  forgot  these  lessons  learned  in  my  min- 
isterial boyhood.  From  that  time  to  this  I  have 
found  that  the  only  sure  way  of  bringing  light 
and  peace  to  anxious  inquirers  is  to  direct  them 
away  from  themselves,  away  from  ritualities  and 
stereotyped  forms,  away  from  agencies  of  every 


no  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

kind,  away  from  everything  save  Jesus  only. 
John  the  Baptist  held  the  essence  of  the  gospel  on 
his  tongue  when  he  cried  out,  "  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
My  anxious  friend,  be  assured  that  you  never  will 
find  pardon  for  the  past  and  hope  for  the  future  ; 
you  never  will  know  how  to  live  or  be  prepared 
to  die  until  you  look  to  Jesus  07ily. 

Here  is  a  hint,  too,  for  desponding  Christians. 
You  are  harassed  with  doubts.  Without  are 
fightings  and  within  are  fears.  Why?  Because 
you  have  tried  to  live  on  frames  and  feelings,  and 
they  ebb  and  flow  like  the  seatide.  You  have 
rested  on  past  experiences  and  not  on  a  present 
Saviour.  You  have  looked  at  yourself  too  much, 
and  not  to  Him  who  was  made  to  you  righteous- 
ness and  full  redemption.  Do  you  long  for  light, 
peace,  strength,  assurance,  and  joy  ?  Then  do 
your  duty,  and  look  to  Jesus  only. 

When  the  godly-minded  Oliphant  was  on  his 
dying  bed,  they  read  to  him  that  beautiful  passage 
in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Revelation,  "  And  God 
shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes."  (It  is 
the  passage  which  poor  Burns  could  never  read 
with  a  dry  eye.)  The  old  man  exclaimed  :  "  Per- 
haps that  is  so.  The  Bible  tells  me  that  there  is 
no  weeping  in  heaven ;  but  I  know  I  shall  cry 


JESUS  ONLY  III 

the  first  time  I  see  my  Saviour."  He  was  right. 
And  it  will  be  so  with  all  of  us  who  come  off 
more  than  conquerors.  The  first  object  that  will 
enchain  our  eyes  on  entering  the  gates  of  glory 
will  not  be  the  jeweled  walls  or  the  shining  ranks 
of  the  seraphim.  It  will  not  be  the  parent  who 
loves  us  or  the  pastor  who  pointed  out  the  way 
of  life.  But  amid  the  ten  thousand  wonders  of 
that  wonderful  world  of  light  and  joy  the  be- 
liever's eye,  in  its  first  enrapturing  vision,  will 
"  see  no  man,  save  Jesus  only." 


VII 
RIGHT   VIEWS   OF   THINGS 


VII 

RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS 
"Thou  hast  well  seen/' — Jeremiah  i.  12. 

There  is  a  right  way  and  a  wrong  way  of 
looking  at  almost  everything.  Some  persons 
seem  to  have  no  eye  for  beauty ;  and  others  see 
every  object  through  a  distorted  vision.  To 
such  persons  one  of  Turner's  fine  landscapes  is 
merely  so  much  paint  and  canvas ;  to  a  man  like 
Ruskin  it  is  a  masterpiece  of  golden  sunlight, 
bathing  field  and  forest  with  its  splendors. 
Niagara  is  a  disappointment  to  many  on  a  first 
view;  the  mighty  cataract  gradually  educates 
the  eye  to  a  right  conception  of  its  crumbling 
cliff  of  snow-white  waters  shot  through  with 
emerald. 

"  Thou  hast  well  seen  "  were  God's  words  to 
Jeremiah  when  He  called  him  to  be  a  prophet  to 
the  people  of  Israel.  The  modest  young  man 
had  just  said,  "  I  cannot  speak,  for  I  am  a  child." 
The  Lord  touches  his  mouth  and  inspires  him 
with  the  gift  of  words.     He  then  tests  the  accu- 

"5 


Ii6  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

racy  of  his  vision  by  the  question,  "  What  seest 
thou  ?"  Jeremiah  does  not  reply,  "  I  see  a  bit  of 
wood,"  or  "  I  see  a  staff" ;  his  answer  is,  "  I  see  a 
rod  of  an  almond  tree."  This  was  just  what  the 
Lord  meant  that  the  young  prophet  should  see. 
The  almond  was  a  tree  of  rapid  growth  which 
put  forth  its  blossoms  early  in  the  spring ;  it  was 
a  type  of  speedy  action.  As  Jeremiah  had  shown 
his  quickness  of  apprehension  and  accuracy  of 
discernment,  God  commended  his  answer  and 
said  unto  him,  "  Thou  hast  well  seen." 

It  is  vastly  important  that  you  and  I  should 
seek  for  spiritual  discernment;  for  many  of  our 
joys  and  many  of  our  sorrows  proceed  from  our 
method  of  looking  at  those  things  which  most 
concern  our  peace.  How  differently,  for  example, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  appears  to  different  eyes. 
Long  ago  it  was  predicted  that  the  Messiah 
would  be  to  many  as  a  root  out  of  dry  ground, 
having  no  form  or  comeliness.  When  they  shall 
see  Him,  there  is  no  beauty  that  they  should  de- 
sire Him;  He  will  be  despised  and  rejected  of 
men.  When  Jesus  came,  therefore,  to  His  own, 
they  received  Him  not.  As  many  as  beheld  Him 
rightly  and  welcomed  Him,  to  them  gave  He  the 
precious  privilege  to  become  the  children  of  God. 
To   all  such,  in  every  age  and  land.  He  is  the 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  117 

chiefest  among  ten  thousand,  and  the  altogether 
lovely.  Jesus  Christ  never  changes.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  thoughtless  sinner  and  the  same 
person  after  he  is  regenerated  is  that  now  he 
looks  at  Christ  with  a  new  eye,  and  has  dis- 
covered Him  to  be  the  very  Saviour  that  he 
needs. 

Some  people  look  at  Jehovah  only  as  a  con- 
suming fire,  and  are  struck  through  with  despair. 
Others  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  see  in 
Him  only  an  infinite  goodness  and  tender  mercy ; 
such  are  in  danger  of  becoming  bhnd  to  the  sin- 
fulness of  sin,  and  they  easily  slide  away  into  a 
belief  in  universal  salvation.  The  man  who 
magnifies  God's  mercy  at  the  expense  of  His 
justice,  and  who  does  not  believe  that  God  will 
punish  unrepented  sin  as  it  deserves,  has  not 
"well  seen."  He  will  discover  his  delusion,  at 
his  terrible  cost,  on  the  "  last  great  day."  Those 
wise  men  in  the  Westminster  Assembly  saw  the 
Divine  attributes  in  their  right  proportion  when 
they  framed  that  wonderfully  comprehensive  an- 
swer— "  God  is  a  Spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and 
unchangeable  in  His  being,  wisdom,  power,  holi- 
ness, justice,  goodness  and  truth." 

I.  We  are  all  apt  to  make  egregious  mistakes 
when  we  look   at    our   heavenly   Father's  provi- 


ii8  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

dential  dealings.  Even  some  Christians  are  be- 
trayed into  a  heathenish  habit  of  talking  about 
"  good  luck  "  and  "  bad  fortune,"  and  using  other 
expressions  that  convey  the  idea  that  this  life  is  a 
game  of  chance.  Blind  unbelief  may  be  expected 
to  err,  and  to  scan  God's  work  as  either  a  riddle 
or  a  muddle.  A  Christian  who  has  had  his  eyes 
opened  ought  to  know  better  than  to  make  such 
mistakes.  Yet  how  prone  we  are  to  regard  many 
of  God's  dealings  in  a  wrong  light  and  to  call 
them  by  wrong  names !  We  speak  of  things  as 
afflictions  which  are  really  blessings  in  disguise. 
We  congratulate  people  on  gaining  what  turns 
out  to  be  a  terrible  snare  or  worse  than  a  serious 
loss.  Quite  as  often  we  condole  with  them  over 
occurrences  which  are  about  to  yield  to  them 
blessings  more  precious  than  gold.  The  patri- 
arch Jacob  evidently  thought  that  he  was  a  fair 
subject  for  commiseration  when  he  groaned  out 
in  his  grief,  "  Me  have  ye  bereaved  of  my  chil- 
dren :  Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye 
will  take  Benjamin  away :  all  these  things  are 
against  me."  His  dim  vision  could  not  foresee 
that  happy  evening  when  the  returning  caravan 
from  Egypt  would  bring  to  him  Simeon  and 
Benjamin,  and  the  thrilling  announcement  that 
the  long-lost  Joseph  was  governor  over  all  the 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  119 

realm  of  Pharaoh.  He  had  not  "  well  seen " 
what  sort  of  a  God  he  had  once  vowed  to  serve. 

Let  us  hesitate  before  we  condole  with  a 
brother  who  is  under  the  chastisement  of  our 
loving  Father  in  heaven.  Be  careful  how  you 
condole  with  a  man  who  has  lost  his  money  and 
saved  his  good  name,  or  congratulate  the  man 
who  has  made  a  million  at  the  expense  of  his 
piety.  When  a  Christian  is  toppled  over  from  a 
dizzy  and  dangerous  height,  and  "  brought  down 
to  hard  pan,"  he  is  brought  down  to  the  solid 
rock  at  the  same  time.  In  the  valley  of  humilia- 
tion he  has  more  of  the  joy  of  God's  counten- 
ance and  wears  more  of  the  herb  called  "  heart's- 
ease  "  in  his  bosom  than  he  ever  did  in  the  days 
of  his  giddy  prosperity.  Sickness  has  often 
brought  to  a  man  spiritual  recovery;  suffering 
has  often  wrought  out  for  him  an  exceeding 
weight  of  glory. 

I  have  seen  people  condole  tenderly  with  a 
weeping  mother  whose  child  has  flown  away 
home  to  heaven ;  but  they  never  thought  of  con- 
doling with  her  over  a  living  child  who  was  a 
frivolous  slave  of  fashion,  or  a  dissipated  sensu- 
alist, or  a  wayward  son,  the  "  heaviness  of  his 
mother."  A  hundred  times  over  have  I  pitied 
more   the   parent    of   a   living   sorrow   than   the 


I20  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

parent  of  a  departed  joy.  Spare  your  tears  from 
the  darlings  who  are  safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus, 
and  spend  them  over  the  Hving  who  are  yet 
dead  in  sin  and  sheer  impenitence.  Let  us  learn 
to  see  things  rightly,  and  call  them  by  their 
right  names.  We  often  drape  our  real  blessings 
with  a  pall  and  decorate  our  dangerous  tempta- 
■•tions  with  a  garland.  Let  us  all  pray  for  spiritual 
discernment  and  often  be  putting  up  the  petition, 
"  Lord,  open  Thou  our  eyes."  Then  we  may 
discover  that  this  life  is  only  a  training  school 
for  a  higher  and  a  better  one ;  then  we  shall  see  a 
Father's  smile  behind  the  darkest  cloud ;  and  at 
the  end  of  the  pilgrimage  of  duty  it  will  be  one 
of  the  raptures  of  heaven  to  behold  the  King  in 
His  beauty,  and  to  know  even  as  we  have  been 
known. 

II.  Let  me,  in  the  next  place,  remind  you  that 
if  we  possessed  more  spiritual  discernment  we 
would  not  so  often  torment  ourselves  with  sinful 
anxieties  about  the  future.  Our  loving  Lord 
knew  what  was  in  man  when  He  reiterated  His 
remonstrances  against  borrowing  trouble  in  ad- 
vance, and  when  He  said,  "  Be  not  therefore 
anxious  for  the  morrow :  for  the  morrow  will  be 
anxious  for  itself  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the 
evil   thereof"     Worry  is   not  only  a  sin  against 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  121 

God,  it  is  a  sin  against  our  own  peace.  It  some- 
times amounts  to  a  slow  suicide.  Honest  work, 
however  hard,  seldom  hurts  us  ;  it  is  worry  that 
corrodes  and  kills. 

There  is  only  one  practical  remedy  for  this 
deadly  sin  of  anxiety,  and  that  is  to  take  short 
views.  Faith  is  content  to  live  "from  hand  to 
mouth,"  enjoying  each  blessing  from  God  as  it 
comes.  This  perverse  spirit  of  worry  runs  off 
and  gathers  some  anticipated  troubles  and  throws 
them  into  the  cup  of  mercies  and  turns  them  to 
vinegar.  A  bereaved  parent  sits  down  by  the 
newly-made  grave  of  a  beloved  child  and  sorrow- 
fully says  to  herself,  "  Well,  I  have  only  one  more 
left,  and  one  of  these  days  he  may  go  off  to  live 
in  a  home  of  his  own,  or  he  may  be  taken  away ; 
and  if  he  dies,  my  house  will  be  desolate  and  my 
heart  utterly  broken."  Now  who  gave  that  weep- 
ing mother  permission  to  use  the  word  "if"? 
Is  not  her  trial  sore  enough  now,  without  over- 
loading it  with  an  imaginary  trial  ?  And  if  her 
strength  breaks  down  it  will  be  simply  because 
she  is  not  satisfied  with  letting  God  afflict  her; 
she  tortures  herself  with  imagined  afflictions  of 
her  own.  If  she  could  but  take  a  short  view, 
she  would  see  a  living  child  yet  spared  to  her,  to 
be  loved  and  enjoyed  and  lived  for.    Then,  instead 


122  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

of  having  two  sorrows,  she  would  have  one  great 
possession  to  set  over  against  a  great  loss ;  her 
duty  to  the  living  would  be  not  only  a  relief  to 
her  anguish,  but  the  best  tribute  she  could  pay  to 
the  departed. 

That  is  a  short  view  which  only  takes  in  im- 
mediate duty  to  be  done,  the  immediate  tempta- 
tion to  be  met,  and  the  immediate  sorrow  to  be 
carried.  My  friend,  if  you  have  money  enough 
to-day  for  your  daily  wants  and  something  for 
God's  treasury,  don't  torment  yourself  with  the 
idea  that  you  or  yours  may  yet  get  into  an  alms- 
house. If  your  children  cluster  around  your 
table,  enjoy  them,  train  them,  trust  them  to  God, 
without  racking  yourself  with  a  dread  that  the 
little  ones  may  some  time  be  carried  off  by  scarlet 
fever,  or  the  older  ones  may  yet  be  ill-married  or 
may  fall  into  disgrace.  Faith  carries  present  loads 
and  meets  present  assaults  and  feeds  on  present 
promises,  and  commits  the  future  to  a  faithful 
God.     Its  song  is  : — 

**  Keep  Thou  my  feet ;  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene  ;  one  step's  enough  for  me." 

We  shall  always  take  that  one  step  more 
wisely  and  firmly  and  successfully  if  we  keep 
our  eye  on  that  only.     The  man  who  is  cHmb- 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  123 

ing  the  Alps  has  but  to  follow  his  guide  and  set 
his  foot  on  the  right  spot  before  him.  This  is  the 
way  you  and  I  must  let  Christ  lead,  and  have 
Him  so  close  to  us  also  that  it  will  be  but  a  short 
way  to  behold  Him.  Sometimes  young  Chris- 
tians say  to  me,  "  I  am  afraid  to  make  a  public 
confession  of  Christ;  I  may  not  hold  out." 
They  have  nothing  to  do  with  holding  out ;  it  is 
simply  their  duty  to  hold  on.  When  future  trials 
and  perils  come  their  Master  will  give  them  help 
for  the  hour  if  they  only  make  sure  that  they 
are  His.  The  short  view  they  need  to  take  is  a 
close,  clear  view  of  their  own  spiritual  wants,  and 
a  distinct  view  of  Jesus  as  ever  at  hand  to  meet 
those  wants.  If  the  fishermen  of  Galilee  had 
worried  themselves  over  the  hardships  they  were 
to  encounter  they  might  have  been  frightened 
out  of  their  apostleships  and  their  eternal  crowns. 
We  ministers  need  to  guard  againt  this  malig- 
nant devil  of  worry.  It  torments  one  pastor  with 
a  dread  lest,  if  he  preach  certain  truths  boldly, 
he  may  offend  his  rich  pew  holders  and  drive 
them  away.  Let  him  take  care  of  his  conscience, 
and  his  Master  will  take  care  of  him.  Another 
is  worried  lest  his  cruse  may  run  dry  and  his 
barrel  fail.  But  his  cruse  has  not  yet  run  dry. 
Oh,  no !  it  is  his  faith  that  is  running  low.     Some 


124  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

of  us,  at  the  beginning  of  a  year's  work,  are 
tempted  to  overload  ourselves  with  the  anticipa- 
tion of  how  much  we  have  to  do ;  we  need  not 
worry  if  we  will  only  remember  that  during  the 
whole  year  there  will  be  only  one  working  day, 
and  that  is — to-day.  Sufficient  to  each  day  is  the 
labor  thereof 

Once  more  we  say — let  us  take  short  views. 
Let  us  not  climb  the  high  wall  till  we  get  to  it, 
or  fight  the  battle  till  it  opens,  or  shed  tears  over 
sorrows  that  may  never  come,  or  lose  the  joys 
and  blessings  that  we  have  by  the  sinful  fear  that 
God  will  take  them  away  from  us.  We  need  all 
our  strength  and  all  the  grace  God  can  give  us 
for  to-day's  burdens  and  to-day's  battle.  To- 
morrow belongs  to  our  heavenly  Father.  I 
would  not  know  its  secrets  if  I  could.  It  is  far 
better  to  know  whom  we  trust,  and  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  all  we  commit  to  Him  until  the  last 
great  day. 

"  Wliy  forecast  the  trials  of  life 

With  such  sad  and  grave  persistence, 
And  look  and  watch  for  a  crowd  of  ills 
That  as  yet  have  no  existence  ? 

"  Strength  for  to-day  is  all  we  need, 
For  we  never  will  see  to-morrow  ; 
When  it  comes,  the  morrow  will  be  a  to-day. 
With  its  measure  of  joy  or  sorrow." 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  125 

III.  If  a  right  spiritual  discernment  tends  to 
correct  false  views  of  God  and  His  providence, 
and  to  repress  sinful  anxieties,  it  will  also  check 
our  impatience  in  regard  to  the  issue  of  God's 
wise  dealings  and  discipline.  "  I  never  let  bairns 
or  fools  see  my  pictures  until  they  are  done," 
said  a  Scotch  artist  to  me,  quoting  a  familiar 
proverb  of  his  countrymen.  As  the  artist  was 
unwilling  to  have  any  judgment  pronounced  on 
his  work  until  it  was  completed,  so  our  heavenly 
Father  bids  us  possess  our  souls  in  patience. 
"What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now;  but  thou 
shalt  know  hereafter."  We  must  wait  and  see. 
This  world  is  but  a  preparatory  school  in  which 
character  is  on  the  easel  or  under  the  chisel. 
God's  hand  sometimes  lays  on  dark  colors ;  his 
chisel  often  cuts  deep.  No  trial  of  our  faith  is 
joyous,  but  grievous ;  nevertheless  afterwards  it 
may  work  out  the  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Now 
we  know  but  "  in  part,"  and  what  we  do  discern 
is  seen  through  a  glass  darkly.  Why  the  most 
pleasant  room  in  our  dweUing  is  turned  into  a 
hospital — why  the  pillow  in  that  little  empty  crib 
is  unpressed  to-day — why  that  income  on  which 
so  many  mouths  depended  is  now  reduced — 
why  this  or  that  staff  is  broken,  our  poor  blind, 
aching  hearts  cannot  understand.     God  keeps  His 


126  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

own  secrets.  The  only  answer  which  He  vouch- 
safes to  us  now  is,  "  All  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  Me."  Impatient  and  re- 
bellious as  we  may  be,  we  cannot  displace  God's 
hand  from  the  canvas ;  there  is  no  help  for  us  but 
to  wait  until  the  picture  is  completed.  Some  of 
the  colors  He  is  laying  into  our  lives  are  fright- 
fully somber;  but  by  and  by  in  the  reveahng 
light  of  the  last  day  they  may  be  only  a  back- 
ground on  which  faith  and  submissive  trust  will 
stand  out  in  hues  of  golden  glory.  It  is  the 
duty  of  "  bairns  "  to  sit  still  and  practice  docility. 

"  When  my  boy  with  eager  questions, 
Asking  how,  and  where,  and  when, 
Taxes  all  my  store  of  wisdom. 

Asking  o'er  and  o'er  again 
Questions  oft  to  which  the  answers 

Give  to  others  still  the  key, 
I  have  said,  to  teach  him  patience, 
<  Wait,  my  little  boy,  and  see. ' 

"  And  the  words  I  taught  my  darling, 

Taught  to  me  a  lesson  sweet ; 
Once  when  all  the  world  seemed  darkness, 

And  the  storm  about  me  beat. 
In  the  'children's  room'  I  heard  him. 

With  a  child's  sweet  mimicry. 
To  the  baby  brother' s  questions 

Saying  wisely,  '  Wait  and  see.' 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  127 

*'  Like  an  angel's  tender  chiding 

Came  the  darUng's  words  to  me 
Though  my  Father' s  ways  were  hidden 

Bidding  me  still  wait  and  see. 
What  are  we  but  restless  children, 

Ever  asking  what  shall  be. 
And  the  Father,  in  His  wisdom, 

Gently  bids  us  '  wait  and  see.'  " 

I  am  ready  to  confess  that  it  is  not  from  the 
open  assaults  of  infidelity  or  from  the  skeptical 
pages  of  the  Strausses  or  Spencers  that  the 
severest  strain  has  come  upon  our  faith.  It  is 
from  the  mysterious  permissions  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence that  we  are  oftenest  in  danger  of  hav- 
ing that  faith  shipwrecked.  We  not  only  turn 
cowards  in  the  dark,  but  Hke  fools  we  doubt 
whether  there  ever  will  be  a  day-dawn.  In  such 
hours  it  is  wise  to  bring  in  the  lamp  of  that 
bright  passage  of  the  thirtieth  Psalm :  "  Weep- 
ing may  endure  for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in 
the  morning."  The  original  Hebrew  is  far  more 
forcible ;  it  literally  reads,  "  In  the  evening  sorrow 
lodgeth,  but  at  the  day-dawn  cometh  shouting." 
The  "  shouting "  will  be  raised  by  the  discovery 
of  what  was  in  existence  all  the  while,  and  that 
is  God's  marvelous  wisdom  and  unfailing  love. 
I  once  spent  a  night  on  the  summit  of  Mount 
Righi,  and  the    darkness   was   so   dense   that   I 


128  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

could  not  see  a  single  yard  from  my  window. 
But  when  the  sun  arose  the  polished  mirror  of 
Lake  Lucerne  spread  beneath  me,  and  the  icy 
coronets  of  the  Jungfrau  and  the  Finsteraarhorn 
glittered  in  the  rosy  beams.  They  had  been 
there  all  through  the  night  waiting  for  the  un- 
foldings  of  the  day-spring  from  on  high. 

A  great  deal  of  our  work  in  this  world  may 
be  called  night-work.  Weary  with  rowing,  we 
even  get  frightened  by  the  apparition  of  the 
Master,  and,  like  the  disciples,  cry  out,  "  It  is  a 
ghost !" — until  He  reveals  Himself  in  the  words, 
"  Be  of  good  cheer ;  It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid !" 
The  history  of  every  discovery  of  new  truth,  of 
every  enterprise  of  benevolence,  of  every  Chris- 
tian reform,  and  of  almost  every  church  revival  is 
the  history  of  long  working,  watching,  and  wait- 
ing through  seasons  of  dark  discouragement. 
"We  have  toiled  all  the  night,  and  have  taken 
nothing,"  was  the  lament  of  the  tired,  hungry, 
and  sleepy  disciples.  But  in  the  early  gray  of 
the  day-break  they  espy  the  Master  on  the 
beach ;  the  net  is  cast  afresh,  and  lo !  it  swarms 
with  a  shoal  that  breaks  through  the  meshes. 
So  doth  our  Lord  test  His  children  before  He 
blesses  them.  The  lesson  for  every  pastor,  every 
missionary,  every    teacher,   every   reformer,   and 


RIGHT  VIEWS  OF  THINGS  129 

every  sorely-tried  child  of  God  is  in  these 
heaven-taught  words,  **  I  wait  for  tlie  Lord,  .  .  . 
and  in  His  word  do  I  hope.  My  soul  waiteth 
for  the  Lord  more  than  they  that  watch  for  the 
morning." 

IV.  We  come  back,  in  closing,  to  the  point 
whence  we  set  out — that  there  is  a  right  way,  and 
a  wrong  way  of  looking  at  all  things.  To  the 
eye  that  has  spiritual  discernment  this  world  is 
mainly  an  avenue  to  that  one  which  lieth  beyond 
it.  Talents,  wealth,  and  influence  are  simply 
loans  that  are  to  be  held  in  trust  for  God.  Social 
promotion  signifies  a  more  commanding  position 
in  which  to  serve  the  Master.  A  Christianized 
eye  sees  in  money  just  so  much  bread  for  the 
hungry,  just  so  many  Bibles  for  the  godless,  just 
so  many  lifts  of  the  outcast  and  degraded — as  well 
as  innocent  and  refining  enjoyments  for  one's 
own  household.  My  friend,  if  thou  findest  the 
"  image  and  superscription "  of  Christ  on  every 
dollar  you  earn,  "thou  hast  well  seen."  To  a 
truly  regenerated  soul  all  things  become  new; 
and  we  may  well  doubt  the  genuineness  and  the 
depth  of  that  conversion  which  does  not  bring 
an  altered  estimate  of  everything  earthly.  Faith 
breaks  the  charm  of  this  world  and  adds  a  charm 
to  the  better  world. 
9 


I30  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

Are  there  any  here  who  desire  to  have  their 
spiritual  vision  purged?  I  would  commend  to 
them  the  example  of  that  blind  man  who  came 
and  besought  Jesus  to  touch  him ;  for  he  fancied 
that  a  simple  touch  of  the  miracle-worker  would 
restore  his  sight.  Jesus  led  him  along  through 
the  streets  and  "  out  of  the  town " ;  and  then, 
putting  spittle  on  his  closed  eyes,  He  inquired, 
"  Do  you  see  anything  ?"  The  poor  man  replied, 
"  I  see  men ;  for  I  behold  them  as  trees,  walking." 
The  Master  again  lays  His  hands  upon  his  eyes 
and  bids  him  look  up;  he  looks  and  seeth  the 
bright  earth  round  him  and  the  Son  of  God 
standing  at  his  side.  Even  so  it  may  be  with 
you,  if  you  will  permit  that  Divine  Friend  to  lead 
you  "  out  of  town "  where  sin  and  self  have 
tasked  and  troubled  you,  and  will  intrust  your- 
self to  His  restoring  power.  He  will  touch  the 
eye  of  your  soul.  Truth  will  become  clearer. 
Faith  will  become  stronger.  The  old  darkness 
will  pass  away,  and  all  things  will  become  new. 
"  Thou  hast  well  seen  "  when  thou  dost  behold 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Lord  of  thy  life,  His  service 
thy  sweetest  occupation,  and  His  presence  thy 
perpetual  joy. 


VIII 
THE   DOVE   THAT   FOUND    REST 


VIII 

THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST 

"Then  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and  pulled  her  in 
unto  him  into  the  ark." — Genesis  viii.  9. 

We  can  picture  to  ourselves  this  scene.  For 
forty  days  the  keel  of  the  ark  has  rested  on  the 
summit  of  Mount  Ararat ;  but  on  every  side 
stretches  a  melancholy  waste  of  waters.  Not 
an  inch  of  dry  ground  is  visible,  nor  has  been  for 
over  twenty  weeks.  Noah  wearies  of  his  im- 
prisonment, and,  like  a  long  voyager,  is  hungry 
for  a  sight  of  land.  He  can  see  none  from  his 
single  porthole;  but  perhaps  the  birds  in  his 
floating  menagerie  can  find  some.  So  he  sends 
forth  a  raven  which  flies  back  and  forth — feeding 
perhaps  on  the  floating  offal,  and  lighting  occa- 
sionally on  the  ark.  The  raven  takes  care  of 
itself,  but  brings  him  no  information. 

Then  he  lets  fly  a  dove  to  see  if  the  waters 
are  abated  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground. 
But  the  dove  finds  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her 
foot ;  nor  is  there  within  her  reach  such  granifer- 

133 


134  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

ous  food  as  she  could  eat.  Weary  with  her  flight 
and  finding  no  tree  to  alight  on,  the  poor  bird 
comes  back  to  her  old  home.  Noah  watches  the 
tired  little  creature  as  she  flutters  back  to  the 
window  of  the  ark.  He  puts  forth  his  hand  and 
catches  the  weary  bird  and  draws  her  in  unto 
him,  and  gives  her  welcome. 

As  we  watch  the  pretty  creature  eating  her 
seed,  and  then  curling  her  head  under  her  glossy 
plumage  and  dropping  to  sleep,  we  are  set  upon 
a  meditation  about  that  bird.  It  represents  a 
wandering  soul.  Whose  soul  ?  Vo^/fs,  my 
brother  sinner?  it  is  probably  a  picture  of  your 
past  experience.  Like  that  wandering  bird,  you 
have  flown  far  and  looked  in  many  directions, 
but  you  have  not  found  rest.  You  have  tried  one 
place  after  another,  one  pursuit  after  another,  one 
pleasure  after  another,  but  none  of  them  gave 
you  solid  peace.  None  of  them  satisfied  the 
hunger  of  your  immortal  soul.  None  of  them 
made  you  feel  sa/c  for  this  world  or  for  the  next. 
Perhaps  you  tried  money  and  all  it  could  buy, 
but  it  could  not  purchase  peace  for  your  dis- 
quieted spirit.  Perhaps  you  flew  up  on  some 
perch  of  ambition ;  and  then  found  yourself  as 
sadly  off  as  that  rich  and  distinguished  English 
statesman  to   whom  a  friend  wished  a  "  Happy 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST  135 

New  Year!"  and  whose  melancholy  reply  was, "It 
had  need  to  be  a  happier  one  than  the  last  year, 
for  I  did  not  see  a  single  happy  day  in  it !"  What- 
ever you  may  have  tried,  it  furnished  your  soul 
no  substantial  rest.  The  very  idea  of  rest  im- 
plies something  solid  and  substantial  underneath 
you.  No  mind  can  be  at  rest  while  tortured  by 
an  uneasy  conscience  or  by  the  dread  of  losing 
its  most  cherished  treasures.  What  could  you 
know  of  peaceful  repose  when  one  of  your  own 
household  was  lying  at  the  point  of  death  in  the 
next  room  ?  or  when  the  cry  of  "  fire !"  was 
ringing  in  the  street  beneath  your  window  ?  The 
human  soul,  like  the  body,  must  have  a  sense  of 
security  before  it  can  realize  a  perfect  rest.  Does 
this  world  afford  you  that?  Can  your  soul  be 
insured  by  it  against  disquietude,  disappointment, 
disaster,  and  the  havoc  of  death  ?  Does  that 
weary  bird,  your  heart,  ever  find  any  rest  for  the 
sole  of  the  foot? 

Answer  this  question  honestly,  all  ye  who  have 
tried  hard  to  draw  a  gill  of  happiness  out  of  a 
whole  cask  of  sensual  pleasures.  Answer  this, 
ye  who  have  built  up  lofty  expectations  of  wealth, 
or  professional  success,  or  social  eminence,  or 
any  other  of  this  world's  attractive  and  inviting 
perches.     When    did   a    man    ever   get    himself 


136  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

snugly  fixed  and  determine  to  nestle  down  amid 
his  creature-comforts,  that  God  has  not  routed 
him  up  again  ?  This  world  is  not  a  Christian's 
rest;  no,  nor  an  impenitent  sinner's  either.  God 
has  vetoed  that.  You  may  rear,  for  example, 
your  tasteful  residence,  and  decorate  it  with  the 
most  elegant  products  of  art;  you  may  gather 
round  your  fireside  a  cheerful  household,  who 
shall  sing  a  melodious  "  Sweet  home  "  to  your 
affections;  but  just  as  surely  as  you  let  the  dove 
of  your  heart  bear  its  whole  weight  on  this  frail 
bush,  the  bush  will  break,  sooner  or  later,  and 
break  when  you  least  expect  it !  Perhaps  the 
flames  will  destroy  your  dwelling,  or  bankruptcy 
bring  it  "  to  the  hammer,"  or  the  angel  of  death, 
on  its  mysterious  mission,  may  alight  on  the 
couch  or  the  crib  that  contains  your  treasures. 
Mayhap  domestic  strifes  or  disappointments  may 
embitter  your  cup,  and  you  may  discover  that  no 
wall  can  be  built  so  high  or  so  strong  as  to  wall 
out  trouble  and  sorrow. 

Well — if  the  mind  cannot  find  abiding  happi- 
ness in  any  of  the  perishable  things  of  earth, 
neither  can  your  immortal  spirit  find  rest  in  any 
mere  human  reliance — whether  human  opinion, 
human  prayer,  or  human  promises.  Have  you 
ever  obtained  an  assurance  of  salvation   on  the 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST  137 

ground  either  of  your  best  purposes  or  best  per- 
formances ?  Are  you  willing  to  risk  the  everlast- 
ing future  of  your  soul  on  either  what  any  man 
has  done  for  you  or  you  have  ever  done  for 
yourself?  Pushing  the  probe  in  deeper,  let  me 
ask  you  in  all  kindness — will  your  present  style 
of  thinking  and  living  satisfy  conscience  and 
satisfy  God,  and  will  it  secure  to  you  spiritual 
health  and  a  peaceful  death  and  an  immortality 
of  glory  ?  Ah,  I  see  you  shake  your  head,  and 
a  shadow  passes  over  your  countenance.  Then 
you  are  not  at  rest !  You  do  not  feel  safe.  You 
cannot  bear  your  whole  weight  on  any  brittle 
spider's  web.  No!  And  God  does  not  mean 
that  your  uneasy  and  sin-troubled  soul  shall  find 
rest  anywhere  outside  of  that  ark  which  redeem- 
ing love  has  provided.  Millions  upon  millions 
have  flown  from  one  direction  to  another,  like 
Noah's  dove,  and  found  that  this  wide  world 
from  pole  to  pole  "  had  not  for  them  a  home." 
They  have  been  forced  to  the  same  confession  as 
Lord  Tennyson's  gifted  young  friend,  Arthur 
Hallam,  when  he  exclaimed :  "  Lord,  I  have 
viewed  this  world  all  over.  I  have  tried  how 
this  thing  or  that  will  fit  my  spirit.  I  cgn  find 
nothing  to  rest  on;  for  nothing  here  hath  any 
rest  itself      Oh,   blessed    Jesus — center    of  light 


138  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

and  strength  ! — the  fullness  of  all  things — I  come 
back  and  join  myself  to  Thee,  and  to  Thee 
alone !" 

' '  I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say, 
'  Come  unto  me  and  rest ; 
Lay  down,  thou  weary  one,  lay  down 
Thy  head  upon  my  breast !'  " 

When  Noah's  dove  could  find  no  rest  for 
the  sole  of  her  foot,  whither  did  she  fly?  We 
read  that  she  "  returned  unto  him  into  the  ark." 
She  saw  nothing  to  alight  upon  anywhere  else, 
and  so  she  spread  her  weary  wings  toward  the 
huge  vessel  on  the  peak  of  Ararat.  To-day  I 
sound  in  your  ear  the  invitation  of  the  Divine 
love  and  the  Divine  authority — "  Return  unto 
Me!"  To  do  this  you  must  abandon  all  trust 
in  self-righteousness  and  all  hope  of  self-salva- 
tion. To  do  this  you  must  confess  that  you  are 
a  guilty  wanderer — that  God  is  right  and  you  are 
wrong.  You  must  renounce  your  past  sins,  how- 
ever dear  to  you,  and  break  with  your  old  habits 
and  your  old  self  The  voice  to  you  is  Return  ! 
There  must  be  no  delay.  The  weary  bird  could 
bring  nothing  but  herself;  and  you  can  bring 
nothing  to  Jesus  Christ  but  a  weak  and  wander- 
ing sinner.  Don't  bring  your  sins ;  don't  bring 
your   excuses    or    apologies ;    don't    bring   your 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST  139 

merits,  for  they  arc  not  worth  the  transportation. 
Bring  to  the  compassionate  Saviour  yourself,  just 
as  you  arc,  and  just  what  sin  has  made  you.  The 
prodigal's  rags  and  wretchedness  were  his  only 
letter  of  recommendation. 

Whither  did  the  dove  return?  To  the  only 
refuge  amid  the  whole  wide  waste  of  waters. 
There  was  but  one.  Beneath  it  lay  a  drowned 
world ;  round  it  spread  the  devouring  deep ! 
God  has  provided  but  one  ark  for  your  soul. 
"  There  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given 
among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved."  In  this 
wide  world  there  are  many  systems  of  religion  ; 
but  God  has  provided  only  one — just  as  He  has 
created  but  a  single  sun  to  "  rule  the  day."  At 
that  single  gateway  of  salvation  the  prince  must 
enter  alongside  of  the  peasant;  the  philosopher 
must  walk  in  by  the  side  of  the  little  child.  We 
seem  to  see  that  tired,  homesick  bird  sailing  along 
through  the  air  toward  the  solitary  ark,  and 
when  it  gets  there  it  finds  only  one  window. 
There  was  a  first,  a  second,  and  a  third  story  in 
Noah's  huge  leviathan  of  a  ship,  but  all  the 
light  was  admitted  through  that  single  opening. 
Beautifully  does  that  single  window  illustrate  the 
illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  most  strik- 
ingly does  it  set  forth  that  every  soul  that  comes 


I40  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

to  Jesus  Christ  must  come  into  a  saving  union 
with  Him  through  the  Holy  Spirit's  regenerating 
work.  This  vital  truth  our  Lord  announced  to 
Nicodemus  in  that  wonderful  conversation  which 
contains  the  most  comprehensive  body  of  theol- 
ogy found  on  any  page  of  the  Bible. 

There  was  only  one  window  to  the  ark  and 
that  was  open.  We  cannot  imagine  that  the 
weary  bird  did  so  foolish  a  thing  as  to  drive  its 
head  against  the  walls  of  the  ark,  or  to  alight  on 
the  roof,  or  to  fly  round  the  vessel.  It  wanted 
to  come  in,  and  there  was  only  one  place  of  en- 
trance. My  troubled  friend,  seeking  to  be  saved, 
can  you  not  learn  from  that  bird  just  what  you 
must  do? 

A  certain  awakened  soul  was  once  taught 
by  a  bird  how  to  find  admission  into  the  peace 
that  passeth  understanding  through  Christ  Jesus. 
The  late  Dr.  Nicolas  Murray  tells  us  that  he 
was  preaching,  on  a  bright  spring  day,  in  the 
ancient  church  of  Elizabeth.  During  the  service 
a  bird  flew  in  through  the  open  door,  and 
sailed  up  to  the  vaulted  ceiling.  There  sat  in  the 
audience  an  intelligent  lady  who  had  been  for 
weeks  under  deep  conviction  of  sin  and  had 
found  no  rest  for  her  bewildered  soul.  She  be- 
gan to  watch  the  bewildered  bird  as  it  flew  to  one 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST  141 

closed  window  after  another,  and  she  kept  saying 
to  herself,  **  Why  doesn't  it  see  the  open  door  ?" 
The  poor  thing  flew  round  and  round  till  it 
grew  weary,  and  then,  lowering  itself  toward  the 
floor,  it  caught  a  view  of  the  open  door,  and 
was  out  in  an  instant  into  the  sunshine.  When 
it  was  gone  the  troubled  woman  said  to  herself:  "  I 
have  been  acting  just  like  that  bird.  I  have  been 
trying  to  find  peace  where  it  could  not  be  found. 
I  have  tried  to  find  escape  from  the  bondage  and 
burden  of  sin  through  windows  that  were  closed 
against  me.  Christ  is  the  door.  As  that  bird 
escaped  into  the  light  and  the  sunshine,  just  so 
may  I."  And  she  actually  found  peace  that  day 
by  a  simple  yielding  of  her  weary  and  sin-plagued 
heart  to  her  Saviour. 

I  fear  that  many  in  this  assembly  have  found 
no  rest  for  their  souls  because  they  have  been 
seeking  it  in  the  wrong  place  and  by  wrong 
methods ;  they  have  flown  everywhere  but  to  the 
right  spot.  One  has  tried  to  reform  his  life,  but 
was  not  able  to  regenerate  his  heart ;  and  the  old 
diseases  broke  out  again.  Another  has  said,  "  If 
I  read  God's  word  and  pray  enough  I  shall  find 
peace."  Another  has  betaken  himself  to  some 
special  service  of  an  evangelist,  or  has  gone  to 
converse  with  his  pastor,  or  in  a  kind  of  forlorn 


142  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

desperation  has  entered  an  "inquiry  meeting"  to 
find  relief.  None  of  these  is  God's  ark !  Noth- 
ing but  life  can  produce  life.  Jesus  declares  :  "  I 
am  the  Way;  I  am  the  Life!"  He  that  hath 
the  Son,  and  he  only,  hath  life ;  and  the  Divine 
Spirit  leads  only  to  the  almighty  and  the  cruci- 
fied Christ.  In  short,  oh,  anxious  and  troubled 
soul — who  art  in  danger  of  being  misled  by  the 
devil  or  of  being  lost  by  delay — there  is  but  one 
window  into  the  ark,  and  that  stands  wide  open ! 
Coming  to  that  is  faith.  For  faith,  you  must  re- 
member, is  not  a  sentiment,  not  an  opinion ;  it  is 
an  act.  It  is  the  act  of  joining  your  weakness  to 
Christ's  strength,  your  unworthiness  to  His  in- 
finite merit,  yourself  to  Himself.  The  obedience 
of  your  soul  to  the  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
brings  you  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  infinite  love 
puts  forth  the  pierced  hand  and  draivs  you  in — 
as  Noah  drew  that  returning  dove  into  the  ark. 
Then  comes  peace,  wondrous  peace,  such  as  this 
world  can  neither  give  nor  take  away.  All  the 
disquietude  of  this  world  cannot  shake  it.  There 
is  no  condemnation  to  them  who  are  in  Christ 
Jesus.  The  soul  fears  no  evil  tidings;  for  the 
perfect  love  has  cast  out  fear.  Conscience  no 
longer  torments;  and  death  no  longer  alarms, 
for  Jesus  has  conquered  death.     Wondrous  peace 


THE  DOVE  THAT  FOUND  REST  143 

ineffable !  There  is  only  One  in  all  the  universe 
who  can  bestow  it,  and  when  He  does  bestow  it, 
all  the  powers  of  Hell  cannot  give  it  a  single  jar ! 
It  is  the  peace  of  God,  and  the  peace  with  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding. 

"  Can  I  do  anything  for  you  ?"  said  an  officer 
on  the  battlefield,  who  came  across  a  wounded 
Union  soldier  who  lay  weltering  in  his  blood. 
"  Nothing,  thank  you."  "  Shall  I  bring  you  a 
little  water  ?"  "  No,  I  thank  you ;  I  am  dyingy 
"  Is  there  not  something  I  can  do ;  shall  I  not 
send  some  message  to  your  friends  ?"  "  I  will 
not  trouble  you  to  do  that;  but  there  is  one 
thing  for  which  I  would  be  much  obliged.  In 
my  knapsack  you  will  find  a  Testament.  Please 
open  it  to  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  and 
you  will  find  a  verse  that  begins  with  the  word 
*  peace.'  Please  read  it  to  me."  The  officer  got 
out  the  book  and  read :  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you. 
My  peace  I  give  unto  you :  not  as  the  world 
giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid."  "  Thank  you, 
sir,"  said  the  dying  man.  "  I  have  got  that 
peace ;  I  am  going  to  that  Saviour ;  I  do  not  want 
anything  more."  His  fluttering  spirit,  Hke  a 
home-bound  dove,  flew  heavenward,  and  the 
blessed   Jesus   put  forth    His  hand  and  sweetly 


144  A  MODEL  CHRISTIAN 

drew  him  in !  Although  but  an  humble  private 
in  the  army  of  the  Lord  as  he  was  in  the  army 
of  the  land,  yet  he  found  his  place  among  the 
crowned  conquerors  in  glory. 

"  Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 

In  sparkling  raiment  bright, 
The  armies  of  the  ransomed  saints 

Throng  up  the  steeps  of  light : 
'Tis  finished,  all  is  finished, 

Their  fight  with  death  and  sin  : 
Fling  open  wide  the  golden  gates, 

And  let  the  victors  in  /' ' 


Date  Due 

V 

■y^.'  -48 

^ 

